Prologue

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Outside the borders of Equestria, laid a veil of darkness, an endless storm spanning around the borders. This was the Shadow realm that was home to the beings dedicated and made from the Dark Arts. Pacts with Shadows and Shadow Ponies populated the cursed land, though through fire, flame and an iron fist, they were brought under one banner, one kingdom, and one Queen.

This was the home of Queen Umbra as her castle was at the peak of the Shadow Realm’s obsidian mountaintop, allowing her to watch over the shadow ponies and maintain order through her rule. Right now though;

“Ah, I needed this,” a large, dark mare said, reclining into her bath.

The mare in question was immense, standing over eight feet tall with grey fur and a black mane and tail, her red, curved horn poking through her mane from her forehead. As she laid back, she spread her voluptuous thighs and caressed the soapy water over her large, HH cup breasts, lathering them thoroughly.

“I hate having to deal with those damned creatures,” she said, “always mouthing off about how they need gems and slaves. As if some mangy mutts can stand against me? How dare they.”

She carried on, grabbing a brush to scrub her thighs. Raising a leg out of the water, she spread soap over herself and started scrubbing.

“Hmm, that summit’s also coming up soon. Much as I despise that upstart little Luna, thinking she owns my shadows just because she’s the ‘Princess of Night’,” she mocked with a high pitch voice, “I should still attend. It’d do no good if I keep Shaded Hallows from the world at large. Besides… it means I get to spend some time with Princess Celestia,” she added with a fanged smile. “I can’t wait to-”

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

“My Queen, a messenger has arrived with news from the Eastern Vanguard,” one of her guards said.

Her leg crashed to the water with a splash, groaning as she got up from the tub. Her hooves clanked against the marble tiles as she approached the door, opening it to glare at the guard and the messenger.

“What?” she growled. “I do not enjoy having my private time interrupted, so make it quick.”

“M-m-m-m-m-my Queen,” the messenger stuttered, “Madam Umbra, oh great-”

“If you wish your eyes to remain in your head you will keep them pointed at mine.”

“Yes! Yes, a million, trillion apologies! The Eastern Vanguard reports they’ve found an ancient temple buried dozens of kilometers beneath the surface!”

“I see,” she said, crossing her arms under her chest, as if daring the messenger to look. “And what about this find is important enough to barge in on my bath?”

“Th-they’ve found symbols that identify it… i-it’s from the last Age of Strife, the Tomb of the Shadow King.”

Umbra’s eyes went wide, before narrowing and grabbing the messenger by the neck, throwing him into the bathtub. When he panicked and gasped for air, she grabbed him by the back of the head and forced him back down into the water, holding him there for a few seconds before pulling him back up.

“Look at me!” she screamed, turning him about.

She peered into his soul, her eyes wafting with purple smoke as he shivered in pure terror. Umbra checked every corner of his mind, her gaze softening as she set him down.

“I see. You’re not lying nor are you caught under Their influence,” she said, levitating a towel and wrapping him up in it. “I apologize, but one can never be too careful of the influence of the Dark Gods.”

“I-I unders-stand my Queen,” he said. “They w-warned me of this, but I-I had to deliver the message. You have to know.”

“So, you were willing to let me kill you for delivering this news?”

“Y-yes, my Queen. My life for the Kingdom.”

“Hmm. Very well, I will allow you to gaze upon me as I ready myself.”

The messenger shook his head as his eyes nearly bugged out of his head, finally gathering the courage to look below her neck. He stared upon his Queen, drinking in her beauty as she walked out of the room. As she walked out, her horn glowed red as she encased her entire body in magic, drying herself off before she left the bathroom. He got up and followed, watching as she entered her personal armory. She pulled on a pair of black panties, followed by a belt that held a pair of armor plates that covered her red-crystal cutie mark on each hip. She strapped on some black stockings and armored them up with silver plates, followed by elbow-length gloves that were strapped with silver plates. Finally, she took out a wrap for her breasts and slowly stuffed them into the wrap before clamping down a silver armored chestpiece, followed by a neck brace and her crown.

“I’ll be on my way then,” she said, nodding to her guards. “Messenger, you are to be examined by the royal doctors and after that, you may go on your way.”

Without any hesitation, she dispersed her body into a cloud of black smoke, followed by the four Guards with her, and surged upwards, through the roof, carrying them to the Eastern border of Shaded Hollows.

\\\\\\//////

When Queen Umbra and the Shadow Guards arrived at the dig site, she was pleased to see the camp taking proper precautions to the find. Walls were erected around the camp, signs of purity and nullification wards on each barrier. The guards that were assigned to the site had everypony lined up and were routinely checking each and every worker with a thorough examination.

“Report,” Umbra demanded, her arms crossed under her bosom.

A shadow coalesced before her, a Shadow Guard kneeling before her.

“Ma’am, one of the excavation teams unearthed an ancient tunnel that had collapsed some time ago, and when they did, we found traces of Their taint upon them,” he said. “It was as it was told, they started speaking of the Gods and stripped not only themselves, but others as well.”

“I see. Were they dealt with accordingly?”

“No, my Queen. They were holed up in the main chamber. With the King’s Sarcophagus.”

“That… is troublesome, but then they’re all gathered in one place, so it makes it easier to clean up. We’ll be taking it upon ourselves to clean this problem up. Are there any maps you can spare?”

“They’ve not finished a map yet, and the cartographer was one of the ones who were caught by the magic traps. However, the Tomb’s fairly straightforward, the Sarcophagus is a straight walk in from the entrance.”

“I see. Very well, return to your post.”

The Shadow Guard nodded and turned to smoke before flying back to the camp.

She knew better than to disrupt the process by showing herself to the workers in the camp, her appearance could distract the workers and let some corrupted individual sneak out.

“It’d be best if we went straight for the temple,” Umbra said to her Guards. “Let’s move.”

The five Shadow Ponies turned to smoke once more and flew over the camp to the dig site, a massive indent at the base of a mountain that dug nearly a full kilometer into the ground, with the Tomb of the Shadow King at the center of the site. The entire thing was immaculate, as if time itself didn’t dare touch the red crystal pyramid, nor the pillars that led to its entrance. At the base, they returned to their physical forms and walked into the tomb on hoof.

They walked in, and as they did, Umbra shuddered as the ancient magic of the tomb crushed her senses, dulling her abilities and making the Guards tremble.

“This power… there’s no time to waste, hurry!” Umbra said, ushering them in.

They ran inside, fast enough that by the time the temple’s entrance slowly shut, they were too deep in to notice or stop it.

\\\\\\//////

For days, Umbra and her Guards were lost in the labyrinthian structure of the Tomb. Despite what the Guard from the camp had told her, she couldn’t find the Sarcophagus ahead of the entrance. It was only a dead end, and when they tried to retrace their steps, they ended up finding a split in the path that should have been where the exit was.

“I curse the Cartographer,” Umbra said, her fingers digging a symbol into the crystalline wall, “and this temple. What should have been a simple hour’s walk in and out has lead us to Sol knows where in here. Of course the Tomb of the Shadow King would be cursed with moving halls and rooms, he created it!” she screamed, punching the wall.

It was enough to shatter straight through to the other side, a tactic that Umbra had taken quite fondly to so she could exercise her frustration with their predicament.

This time, however, she had found their goal.

“By Faust’s grace, we’ve found it!”

Inside, there was a massive sarcophagus, a pure white marble coffin easily sixteen feet long and twelve wide. It was adorned with dozens, if not hundreds of gems of all kinds, and atop it rested a necklace. Despite being thousands of years old, the grave was spotless, with no signs of aging or dust on the surface or the amulet.

In the back of the room, however, were several naked ponies in a bath, waterfalls running down their bodies while they engaged in an orgy.

“My Queen?” a Guard said, brandishing his blade.

“Hold, I don’t think they’ve noticed us yet,” she said, holding a hand out to stop them.

Truth be told, she wanted to put an end to their fucking and drag them out of here, but something compelled her to watch. Several mares were engaged tongue wrestling with one another, groping each other and grinding up together while they bathed. A lone stallion stood amongst them, his dark fur drenched as he hammered into the mare who was bent over before him. She moaned and screamed as she was being plowed, Umbra fixated on the sight of such a massive cock spreading her, glazed with the mare’s juices and being shoved back in without mercy. The mare looked up and locked eyes with Umbra, and the Queen gasped as she realized she was gazing upon herself.

“My Queen!” a Guard shouted.

Umbra shook her head and looked again, only now the room had no bath or orgy. Just the Sarcophagus. Her body was intensely heated, her breasts were sweaty and her pussy ached, crying out to be touched. As she became aware of herself, she noticed her hands were stuffed under her clothes and quickly pulled them out, her right hand slick with her own cum. She turned to her guards and saw that they were blushing like mad from seeing their queen doing that in front of them.

“You didn’t see a thing, understand?” Umbra said through anger and her blushing face. She then turns back to the tomb and is confused by what she did earlier and why she did that and thought the tomb had something to do with it.

Umbra looked at the strange amulet resting atop the grave and stepped forward to pick it up. The moment her finger made contact with it, Dark Magic flooded the room, knocking her back. As the magic washed over her, the Guards were slammed into the walls.

The amulet let out a deep, rumbling sound as it floated into the air, glowing with ancient arcane might. Tendrils of dark seeped from the piece of jewelry, green shadowy eyes appeared out of it and glared at the intruders.

“So you disturb me from my slumber and think it’s a good idea to rob from me, is that right?”

“What are you?” She yelled as she stood up and tried to cover herself after her armor was stripped away.

“I am the Shadow King, and you all seem to be intruding upon my land,” he said in a chilling yet soft tone. “But I see you brought a few servants, as well as a new playmate for me.”

“Playmate?” Umbra growled in anger, embarrassment, and frustration. “You’ll pay for your insolence!” She then charged her magic and aimed at the shadow figure. Firing a beam of energy she hit her target, only for him to absorb it into his body.

“You’re just making this too easy…” He said with a chuckle as he absorbed the blast. Umbra was getting worried now, her Guards blasting the shadow being with their own magic. The shadow absorbed the beams, a surge of red tracking the beams to the Guards and encasing them. The traps forced them to keep their attacks going as their casings were flooded with red power.

“No! Let them go, you fiend!” Umbra said, summoning a cursed blade to her hand.

She charged him and tried to swing for the center, but a furless hand reached out, palm facing towards her, and blasted her back with a wall of magic. Umbra was thrown onto the floor once more and she gasped as she felt her body heat up again, as though she were a filly in her first ripe season. She cursed the magic for making her feel like this, grit her teeth and faced the creature.

The shadowy King’s form was concentrating into a physical body now, and as Umbra watched, she felt fear grip her heart. His robes cascaded and concealed his entire thin body, trailing just over the floor where he hovered. He was easily twelve feet tall, not counting for the foot he had over Umbra while hovering. The strange part of the King was its face, it was a flat thing with no fur on it, only pale white skin with grey eyebrows and a goatee, a few wrinkles etched into his skin as though they were chiseled there.

“What… what are you?”

“I am King Leonardo Danse, the Shadow King… and newly revived emissary to Eris and Cosmos,” he said, his robes opening.

From the red curtains that surrounded King Danse, purple mist rolled out across the floor. Umbra backed away to try and retreat from it, but parts of the mist whipped out at her, slashing at the bonds of her armor and pulling away, stripping her bare. A cool sensation rolled over her as the mist washed through her fur, an intoxicating aroma flooding her senses.

The sound of armor falling apart around her drew Umbra’s attention to her Shadow Guards, who were all stripped of their armor and proudly waving their erections at her. Their horsecocks pulsated violently with a red tint, magic wafting off of them.

“Due to my current limitations, these fine young lads will be my proxy for what comes next,” the King said.

“W-what, what do you- Ahh~!” Umbra moaned, the musk of the room overwhelming her as she got to her knees.

“What comes next? Well, you, of course,” he chuckled.

As Umbra knelt there, the Shadow Guards approached her, and already she could tell exactly what would happen, the thought alone already edging her closer to climax.

King Danse watched as his thralls began doing their part, smiling as the voices of the Goddesses laughed in his mind.

Chapter 1

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The one thing that adventurers had in common, they all had a beginning and leave behind a legend. Only the beginning of these four adventurers in another world begin on earth. Four college roommates each doing their one thing inside their two story house that was near a college on the far side of the county.

“Ugh, bastard should’ve kept his damned trap shut,” a male voice said as he was bandaging his hands.

This was Michealangelo Johnson, a 19 year old college student that was one of the more rowdy ones of the group and Is more of the wild one of the group and tends to sometimes get his friends into trouble. But he is always there to help his friends if the going gets tough. He gets ticked off if anyone insults his dead family. The only thing he remembered from his childhood was the fact that they were adventurers that explored lost temples to find rare treasure. He was easily 6’5 and with a medium build as a college gym assistant, and dark skin working out a short goatee where his chin is.

“You almost beat that last guy to a pulp, just take it easy Mike,” another voice called out bringing in water. He sounded more gentle than before. He turned over to see his other friend Mathias Vanderwulf. He was one of his roommates and he tends to be awkward around socializing especially towards women. But when it comes to finding the more peaceful road to deal with problems, he’ll take it. He stood at 6’ 1” with brown hair that reached his shoulders and eyes the same color, his skin fairly tanned from his job working outside.

“You’re lucky I managed to talk the principal into a suspension and detention rather than you getting expelled.”

“He had it coming,” Mike told him while finishing the bandages. “I’m sick of assholes like that trashing my parents like that,”

“Honestly if people are trash enough to have to resort to that they don’t need a beating, they need therapy,” said Sam.

Samuel Ampill, their newest roommate, walked in with a cooler filled with chilled meats. He stood only around 4’ 7” tall, topped off with dark brown hair. His green eyes were filled with tired mirth, having lost his third bout in a boxing tournament. Though he knew his miniscule, stringy frame wasn’t a match for the larger competitors, he kept at it to meet his share of the rent, which the rest of the guys felt mixed on.

“I mean, come on. They were held back at least five semesters, there’s got to be something wrong with them, dude. I doubt a few bloody noses and broken arms are gonna change anything. Would’ve been easier to-”

“Can you stop preaching and just get the shit to the fridge!?” Zander said, whipping at him with a towel.

Zander was the last group of the four friends that lived in the house with them. A joker who tends to mess with those who fight him, only for him to knock them on their backs. However can be vicious If you set him off to a passing point. At 5’ 9”, the blonde had a decent build, bulky enough to intimidate up front, though he was quite pale due to his time spent indoors due to classes and work.

“Anyways, Mike you gotta understand that people like that get you riled up on purpose just to get a reaction,” Mathias said to him.

“I understand that, but I just can’t stand it when people are kicking my parents while they’re in the grave right now,” Mike added, while looking out of the window. “How would you feel if you heard someone saying anything like that about your parents?”

“Personally, I’d agree with them, but what do I know? They walked out and stuffed me with the bill,” Sam said, packing the fridge. “The fact you feel this way about them proves how great they were, so at least know that they were better than most and take pride in that. So let’s move on to something else! I got a good number from a guy at the ring who bet against me in that last fight, so let’s bet on it! We play MK11 and see who walks away with a crisp $300!”

“Oh yeah, they just had that new DLC! Dibs on Fujin!” Zander said.

“I’m taking Robocop and no one can stop me!” Mathias said, rushing to grab his arcade stick.

“Oh you’re on, I call the Terminator!” Mike called out, grabbing a nearby controller.

Sam finished putting away the groceries and pulled out his wallet, slapping six $50 bills onto the table before plugging his arcade stick into the PS4. The guys gathered in the living room, Zander sitting on the stairs with a normal controller while Sam sat on the floor by the TV, Mathias and Mike sitting on opposite ends of the couch.

Screaming, cursing, laughs and rage consumed the room as the madness of their matches helped them lose track of time. Sam’s inexperience with Robocop ensured his defeat at Mike’s hands as the Terminator, though Zander’s Fujin stomped Mathias’ Raiden. Mike and Zander were screaming across the room at each other, their controllers rattling as they tried to outpace one another’s attacks. Eventually, Zander’s skills outmaneuvered Mike’s and Fujin landed the final blow at the end of the third round.

“Yeah!” Zander screamed. “Money!”

“Ah, dang it!” Mike said. “That means he gets the pile.”

“If you’ll excuse me, there’s some purchases that need to be made,” Zander chuckled as he picked up the cash and put it in his pocket.

“Lucky,” Mike said in a casual tone. He was about to pick up the controller, when he heard the doorbell ring. “Who’s that?”

“I’ll get it,” Zander replied as he got up and walked towards the door. A few seconds later, they heard him say something about being a friend of Mike’s, followed by the door closing. He walked in, a box in hand said to Mike, “You got mail.”

He set the box on the table as Sam picked up the controllers.

“What’s this for?” Mike asked, looking at Zander

“Guy said it was for you dude,” He replied as he looked at the box. “Don’t know what’s in it, though.”

“There is a note on top of it,” Mathias said as he picked up the paper and read it.

“‘Dear Michelangelo,

We hope this package finds you in good health one day. At the time you’re reading this, it’s time to pass on a family secret held on for hundreds of years, and now the mantle rests in your hands. Inside this box are four medallions of otherworldly origin and unparalleled mystic power. With them, you and whoever you trust with your life are given the fate of worlds, to either save or destroy. Though your mother and I likely won’t be present to see how it turns out, we know that through it all, you’ll do fantastic with whatever fate you forge for yourself

Take care of yourself

P.S., don’t let the obvious distractions keep you from finishing your quest. If your mother wasn’t there, I might have accidentally let the apocalypse happen, so keep yourselves in check. Love, Mom and Dad’.”

The group sat in silence as they exchanged looks before Sam took out a switchblade.

“The fuck’s that mean? End of the world and magic? We’ve gotta see what’s in there.”

Sam flipped the blade out and twirled it, presenting the handle to Mike so he could open the box himself. Slowly taking the blade, Mike eyed the box over again. A package from his parents, years after their death, talking about strange cryptic stuff had scrambled his thoughts like a blender.

The knife plunged into the tape along the top of the box, and suddenly, only barely though, the temperature of the room heightened. It went unnoticed by the four, though it was far from the only change that they couldn’t perceive. Shredding the tape, Mike sliced the sides and lifted the flaps to find four medallions resting on a book.

“Woah, these are the medallions?” Mike asked. “How do we decide who gets which one?”

Mathias didn’t answer, instead he closed his eyes, covered them with one hand and reached the other into the box and picked at random.

“Dude, these are the last things your parents are ever going to give you,” Zander said. “You sure you’re alright with us just… taking them? I mean, what if they’re worth, like, hundreds of thousands of dollars? Shouldn’t we sell them to a museum, or-”

“Oh, cool! A Phoenix!” Mathias said. In his hand was a red and yellow-crested medallion the size of a baseball, the emblem of a blazing bird with its wings outstretched as it bellowed fire from its beak. The back had the same design, only rotated to be upside-down.

“What!? I want one!” Sam said, digging in and grabbing one. “Sweet, a Dragon! But it’s cracked along the neck.” In his hands was a silver talisman with blue trims, a dragon curled up with its wings folded, fire sprouting from its spines and scales as it consumed a star.

Zander sighed in resignation.

“Alright, guess we’re just doing this now,” he said before reaching in. “Woah, I got a wolf,” Zander called out as he picked up the medallion, white as snow with black trim. It depicted a pack of wolves devouring a small man, though the way they were arranged shaped a larger image of a wolf that dominated the shape of the coin.

“Goess that leaves me with the last one,” Mike said as he picked up the last one and looked at it. “Wait is this a demon?” He said as he picked up the bronze medallion that had a picture of what looked like a large demon knight holding a sword in a battle stance. The demon was a large beast, with four arms dominating the upper half of the coin, one pair human and the other pair avian, the first set covered in chitin and the second part of a massive set of wings. The wings stretched down to the other side of the coin, feathered on the edge yet lined with webbing on the inside. The demon’s face was stoic, all three eyes facing forward as though it were piercing Mike’s very soul with its inanimate gaze.

“Why would my parents leave me this in a care package?” He asked the guys in confusion. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Maybe it’s like Zander said and they’re worth a butt-load of money,” Sam said. “I mean, look at them! That’s gotta be at least… fifteen? Twenty? Yeah, twenty bucks, right here.”

“Or maybe they’re keys to actual treasure that we could hunt down with this book, a la Uncharted,” Mathias said, picking up the book from the package.

“Maybe the book has some answers,” Mathias followed up as he took out a book that read, The Four Guardians. “Four guardians?” He added as he flipped through some of the pages of the book.

“You think these medallions are like keys or something?” Mathias asked.

“Maybe, or they could be gifts from some foreign country,” Zander said. “I mean, you did say your parents travelled a lot, right?”

“Yeah they did, but they never tell me where they’re going,” He added.

“Maybe this book has something to say about it,” Mathias followed up as he turned to a page that he thought was interesting. “Good news, the book says something about the things. Bad news, I can’t read this. Is this Latin or something?”

“Oh, well I should have taken that language course instead of buying hundreds of dollars of Warhammer miniatures,” Sam said.

“We do have google translate,” Zander followed up, pulling out his phone. “I can just type what it says and we can figure out what that is.”

“Right,” Mike said as he turned to Mathias. “Think you can use that”

“Oh, sure... it looks like I says,”

Cumque vim frigoris extremis orbis mundum revocabit notas veteres et ad propinqua verunt visitationes, per quoscumque divinæ loco. Ianuae Magicae!

“So If I just type that into google translate it says,” Mathias added

When the world's edge draws cold, the world will summon the marks of old, bring the guards of time and space, through all barriers to this divine place. Teleport!

“Okay, what joke is this?” Mike asked unsure of what was going on.

Suddenly, the book in Mathias’ hands started shaking. He screamed and dropped it, the pages flowing on their own as it glowed.

“The fuck is happening!?” he screamed, scrambling to get away from the book.

The book’s light flooded the room, blinding them as the light engulfed not just the living room, but the entire house. A vortex of swirling lights spiralled around their house, the wind picking up and throwing branches and trash across the nearby yards.

While they were blinded by the book, none of them noticed the glowing medallions that still stuck to their hands. Mathias’ coin surged with fire and arced along his body, digging into his back. Zander’s coin pulsed and fused with his arm, scrying itself up its length before it nestled into his neck. Mike’s medallion crackled and burned, melting its iconography into Mike’s palm. Sam’s medallion, however, cracked and exploded where the fracture was, and as it emblazoned itself into his chest, he screamed as fire wreathed his body.

\\\\\\//////

Mike slowly returned to consciousness, prying his face off of the floor before bracing himself against the wall, straightening out to hobble to the door.

“Ugh… what the Hell happened?” he said, running a hand over his head to soothe his headache.

Everything in the house was thrown around, from the knick-knacks that decorated their shelves to the refrigerator that was smashed into the dining room table, food and drinks splattering every surface of the room.

“Oh, that’s gonna be a pain in the butt,” he said, growling.

He clenched his hand in anger, but when he did the doorframe cracked apart, and he stumbled back. Where he had grabbed on to the wall split open. He checked his hand to see if he had any splinters, but was stunned to see his normal hand replaced with a chitinous clawed thing.

“Holy shit!” he yelled, trying to fling it off.

His other hand came up to wipe it off, thankfully still human, and after a few swipes, he started to calm down, realizing that he wasn’t feeling anything else off about his hand. After a silent moment, he brought his mutated hand closer to his face and examined it.

Blue energy glowed underneath the skin, flowing like veins and pulsing like neon lights. The surface itself was almost rock-hard but was just as light as his other arm. A few tests like flexing his fingers and swinging at the air proved that it was still fully functional, just different.

“That… that is weird. That is beyond all kinds of weird.”

“You’re tellin’ me.”

Mike turned around to see what looked like a snow-white werewolf sitting on the staircase.

“Jesus!” Mike said, falling back to the wall.

“Relax, it’s me, Zander,” the wolfman said. “I woke up like this, but I swear it’s me under all this shit. Besides, I’ve got proof,” he said, reaching into his torn jeans.

The clawed hand reached down and pulled out six $50 bills, and the wolfman smirked. Mike took a second to look between the money and the wolf before he spoke.

“Zander?”

“In the flesh,” Zander said, pocketing the cash. “Or fur, I guess.”

“The Hell happened? Are we all like… wait, where’s Sam and Matt?”

“Up here!”

They looked up to see a bird-person hanging on the fan above the living room. He was gold all around with red along the feathers and beak, brown eyes glowing in the dark of the damaged house.

“I don’t know how to get down without getting hurt,” it said in Mathias’ voice.

“Guess we’re all some kind of animal thing,” Zander said. “I thought I was tripping the fuck out from whatever my cousin left us, but if you’re seeing it too it can’t just be me.”

“I can’t feel my everything.”

The three stopped and realized who was buried beneath the remnants of the shelves and TV.

“Oh shit, Sam!” Mike said, diving to the wreckage of the TV.

Glass and wood shards heaped up on top of the small man, hiding him from view. Mike grabbed the TV by the frame and pulled it up before tipping it over to let it fall on the wall. He could see Sam looking up at him with a dizzy look.

“Oh, hey Mike. I think I broke my everything. Can you get me out of here?”

“Zander!”

“On it!” Zander said, digging his clawed wolf-hands into the pile.

“Oh, hey, Zander’s a wolf. Cool. Oh hi birdy!”

“Don’t call me that!” Mathias said.

“Oh, it’s Matt. Cool, I wonder what aminanimal I’ll be,” Sam said.

“Sam, just try not to move, alright?” Mike said, grabbing an edge of the old bookcase.

“I’m not an animal, damn it!” Mathias said, pointed a winged finger at Sam.

At that moment, Mathias’ feather flashed red and a fireball shot from it, bursting on impact with the rubble pinning Sam down.

“Holy shit!” Zander said, backing off.

“Dude, the fuck!” Mike said, glaring at Matthias.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuuuuck!” Mathias said, his body glowing as he panicked.

His grip on the fan slipped and he fell into the fire. The moment he landed, his body flashed and the fire stopped. Mike and Zander peered into the rubble to see Mathias back to being his normal self, though his shirt was ripped apart and burned at the edges.

“What the Hell is going on!?” Mathias said.

“Please get off,” Sam wheezed.

Mathias shot up and tripped as he got away from Sam, who was finally able to move. When he slid out from the pile, the rest could see his own transformation. His head was still completely human, but from his collarbone onwards, his body was covered in nothing but silver scales, overlapping and jutting out over one another, his arms and legs ended with flexible talon-fingers. At his elbows and across his spine were small spikes of purple leathery flaps, and they extended down a long tail that ended in another clawed hand.

“Oh, oh God nothing feels right!” Sam said, crashing shoulder-first into the wall. “I feel like I went eight rounds with a steam roller and they threw me in a tornado to freshen up.”

“Are you a dragon!?” Zander said.

Sam blinked and looked at his scaled hands, at first in confusion that morphed into amazement.

“Whoa! That’s awesome! I take it back, I could totally win eight rounds with a steam roller now! And… is that a tail!? AWESOME!”

He tried to flex it only for the appendage to slam on the ground and send Sam tumbling over himself.

“I’m alright! Didn’t hurt as much as the first time!”

“Okay, what the actual buttery toasted fuck is going on!?” Mathias said.

“How should I know?” Mike asked. “The last thing I remember was opening that package that my folks brought and then that book, everything else is a blur.”

The group was silent as they examined the wreckage of their home.

“Hey, didn’t I read out that weird note in the book? The one in Latin?” Matt said. “Where’d the book go?”

“Wait, where did the medallions go?” Zander asked.

“Uh, I think I found mine,” Sam said, scratching at his chest.

They looked to him and, right where he was scratching, over his heart, was what was left of the Dragon Medallion, burned into his scales.

“Why is it on your chest?” Zander asked in confusion. “It looks like it’s burned on or something, plus you don’t have a dragon’s head.”

“I don’t get how it happened,” Sam added, “but whatever it was happened to you guys too.”

“You think so?” Mike said to himself as he looked along his forearm to see where his medallion was. He looked at his upper forearm to find his medallion on his forearm now engraved on him like a tattoo. “How the hell?”

“I think mine’s in my neck?” Zander said, digging his paw into the fur of his neck, showing the medallion embedded in his neck. “Why the neck? I didn’t even put it there!”

“Uh, where’s mine? I can’t find it,” Mathias said, checking over himself.

“Turn around, I think- yep. Yeah, it’s in the middle of your back,” Sam said, pointing at him.

“How the- how did it even get there!? I was holding it! In my hand!” Mathias asked in confusion and fear. “Wait, how are we going to change back?”

At the utterance of the word, Mathias’ body flashed red. When the light faded, his feathered appearance was replaced with his normal form. He blinked, patting himself and examining his hands before he laughed.

“Oh thank God! I thought I was gonna be some freaky bird thing for the rest of my life!”

“Oh, what the Hell?” Zander said. “How come you can just turn back to normal?”

When Zander said the word, his body flashed white, and his human form replaced the wolf one. He looked over himself and smiled.

“Oh. Guess it’s just that easy. Thought I had to concentrate on something, but I guess it’s just saying the word and we’re good.”

Mike looked at his hand, the chitinous appendage gleaming as he stared at it.

“Normal,” he said.

It faintly glowed blue, but it didn’t disappear. Instead, he felt a cold sensation run up his arm, making him shiver.

“Normal! NORMAL!” Sam shouted.

He repeated the word, only for his body to remain mostly scaled.

“Okay, I guess I’m stuck like this,” Sam said. “Could be worse. I mean, at least I’m a dragon man and not something gross like a mushroom or something. So hey! Silver lining, I got cool scales now. Doubt they’d let that fly at the local fight club, though.”

“Well what we can do is figure out what happened back there, and try to-” Mike get cut off when they hear a knock at the door. “Who the hell could that be?”

“Probably some cops or something. I mean, look at this place!” Zander said, waving his arms around. “That had to have made some noise.”

“You think one of the neighbors called them?” Mathias asked.

“Probably,” Mike followed up. Mathias then looked at Sam and realized what may happen if the police saw him in their house.

“Shit, Sam, hide!” Mathias said. “You’ll freak them out with your scales!”

“Leaving now,” Sam said, running upstairs.

“Mike, you’ve gotta cover your arm,” Mathias said.

“What? How the Hell am I supposed to hide this!?” He said, pointing to his demonic arm.

“Dude, have you ever played Devil May Cry 4?” Zander said. “Just roll up your sleeve or put it in a cast or something.”

“Alright, let me get my jacket.”

Mike went off to search the shoe closet to find a jacket. While he searched through it, he could hear voices outside the cracked windows.

“Where do you think this house came from?” A female voice called out from the other side. “It's weird to suddenly see a house appear out of nowhere.”

“Wait, what’d she say?” Mathias said in confusion.

“And it sounded like male voices I heard as well,” Another female voice said in response to the first one. Around that time, Mike has a jacket on and he would hear what sounded like a conversation outside with the girls as do the others.

“Okay, the Hell are they talking about?” Zander whispered.

“Don’t know,” Mike said as he and Zander walked towards the door.

Mike pulled the jacket’s sleeve over his hand, making sure to keep it at his side while he and Zander braced themselves.

“Hello there,” Mike said, opening the door. “Is there something we can…”

Mike stopped as he looked up at the two large creatures standing at the door.

“Dude, you alright, what’s going ooOOOON!?” Zander said, backpedalling at the sight of the strange beings.

The two roommates dropped their jaws at the sight before them. Two tall creatures stood upright on two legs. Both were covered head to… hoof, in fur, one beige and the other a mint green, their faces somewhere halfway between a Human’s and a horse’s face, though their massive eyes and small muzzles were far more accommodating to look at. The beige one was slightly taller and had broader shoulders while the mint one had a horn on her forehead. They had long hair and even tails, the mint one with white and greenish-white, the beige one’s hair colored pink and dark blue. The most easily distinguishable thing that the two noticed were their very obvious female assets. Tits that were bigger than their heads, thighs thick enough to share for Thanksgiving and asses big enough to sleep on. They also happened to be wearing extremely skimpy parodies of actual armor. The large beige one wearing half of a tunic top that only managed to cover her nipples with a single band and a fur pelt that just reached over her ass, while the mint one wore a gown with plate-mail shoulders and shin guards, though it was undone in the middle to show off her tits and panties.

“Um, who are you all and are you okay?” The beige mare asked the guys who just couldn't say anything. They really didn’t know what to say since their brains were still trying to process what was going on. Just as she was about to ask something again, Mike in a panic, slams the door on their faces and puts his back towards the door. He looked like he was going to have a panic attack, looking at the guys while trying to calm down trying to think of something to say.

“Where the hell are we?” Mike whispered to the guys. “Last time I checked, Illinois wasn’t being attacked by amazonian aliens, right!?”

“Normally I wouldn’t complain, but what the fuck man!” Zander said. “Did you see the size of those things!?”

“What things are you referring to?” Mathias asked. “Because I don’t think we’re in south Illinois anymore.”

“What do you mean?” Mike asked.

“Based on what I’ve heard from what they were talking about, I think we’re in another world now,” Mathias brought up. “Question is, where are we now?”

\\\\\\//////

“Goodness, they seemed frightened,” Bon Bon said. “I mean, I know I practiced my Intimidation skill, but those poor dears seemed terrified.”

“I can imagine why,” Lyra said. “Did you see how small they were? Poor colts must be barely old enough to live on their own, and a couple of Adventurer mares come knocking down their door, they’ll be scared of just about anything I imagine.”

The two stood there and listened to the sounds of yelling inside before they spoke again.

“Do you think they’re lost?” Lyra said.

“Well, absolutely,” Bon Bon said. “I mean, this house literally appeared out of nowhere! Those poor foals must have gotten caught in some kind of ritual that went wrong.”

“Well the fact that four colts landed in the middle of town while we’re preparing for an invasion isn't going to sit well,” Lyra added. “We gotta protect them.”

“Absolutely. Mare’s honor, we’ve got to. But how do we get them out?” Bon Bon asked. “You saw the look on his face, he was spooked when he saw us.”

“Well we can try to explain who we are and earn their trust somehow and let them know that we aren’t going to hurt them,” Lyra added as she raised her arm towards the door again.

“You’re always the cheerful one Lyra,” Bon Bon said with a smile while smacking her right on the butt cheek making the mint green mare yelp and blush. “And that’s why I love you.”

\\\\\\\\////////

“Okay, don’t panic, just don’t panic,” Mike said as he was trying to figure out what to do as were his friends. “Just need time to think and figure out our situation right now.”

“Dude, let’s face facts,” Zander said. “We’re not going to get anywhere by thinking. We turned into weird monsters and there’s alien babes outside. We’re not sitting here and doing nothing, we’ve gotta take some initiative.”

“Ey, you guys alright?” Sam asked, coming downstairs. “I heard yelling and I need a distraction.”

“Maybe if we ignore them and stay as quiet as possible, they’ll go away,” Mike said with a sigh hoping that his plan would work. “Last thing we need is some freakish horse-thing around to break shit.”

“I heard that, asshole,” Bon Bon said in annoyance on the other side.

“Now that’s just rude, calling us whorses,” Lyra said, sounding hurt on the other side of the door. “What did we ever do to you?”

“So, what’s happening and who’s outside? They sound nicer than most people that drop by,” Sam said, walking up to the door. “Huh. Neat.”

“And there’s another colt in there. Are there any more in there we haven’t met?”

“Well, there’s Mike, Zander, Mathias and myself! Name’s Sam! Who’re you two?”

Mathias facepalmed as Mike clutched his head in anger.

“Dude, we were trying to ignore them and you gave them our names!” Mike hissed.

“Oh. Whoops.”

“Wait, how’d you even hear us earlier when I said you were horses earlier?” Mike asked.

“Our ears can be pretty sensitive, you asshole,” Bon Bon growled in annoyance as she clenched her fist in anger. “And you’re really trying my patients with the whorse comments.”

“Wait, does that mean what I think it means?” Zander said. “Did we accidentally call you a slut!?” he called out.

“Oh, it’s ‘accidental’, huh? Sure, yes, you ‘accidentally’ called me a whorse.”

“We’re sorry, the closest living thing we know of that resembles you two is called that back home!” Mathias added.

“What do you mean?”

“The term ‘horse’ means the name of an animal, not to insult you guys,” Mike followed up. “Why the hell would I call you both sluts? That seems unnecessary.”

“So will you open the door now?” Lyra asked with a soft smile on her face.

“Yeah alright,” Sam said dismissively before opening the door.

The two standing there blinked as they looked at Sam, examining him with curiosity.

“Are you… a Dragon?” the mint mare asked.

“I guess so. I think it’s neat so far,” Sam said.

“‘So far’? What do you mean by- Holy Sunbutt, this place is wrecked!” the beige mare said, walking inside.

“Yeah wasn’t like this awhile ago,” Mike followed up. “I think we were unconscious by the time you guys got here.”

“I think it’s crazy at the fact that we’re talking to a pair of sapient… um, what’s the correct term we should use?”

“Ponies,” Lyra said with a smile. “The correct term is ponies.”

“Okay,” Mathias followed up with a smile.

“So, how did all this happen?” Bonbon asked looking at the boys. “You said the place wasn’t always like this, so what caused it to be this way?”

“To be honest... we don’t know,” Mathias said with a sigh. “Our friend Mike got a care package from his dead parents a while ago and it had these medallions. When I read the book that came with them, we wound up who knows where.”

“Really?”

“And to be honest, we thought we were hallucinating when we saw you girls earlier,” Zander said with an embarrassed look.

“What do you mean by that?” Bon Bon said in annoyance.

“We legit thought we were hallucinating when we first got here and that we were in a crazed dream.”

“As in… well, look at you two! You’re hot as Hell and are wearing super revealing armor. It’s almost a sight too good to be real,” Zander said.

“Flattery isn’t gonna get you boys anywhere after today,” Bon Bon followed up. “And what was this about turning into monsters I heard earlier?”

“Oh. Well, uh-”

“Wolf,” Zander said.

His body flashed white and his body grew a coat of snow-white fur through his skin. His teeth sharpened while his face elongated his mouth into a muzzle, disfiguring his face with a sickening sound. The rest of his body bulked up as he hunched over, the wolf form stopping while he was still bipedal. He turned to the mares and smiled, a fang-filled mouth grinning at them.

“Pretty sick, right?” Zander asked, looking over his hand. “I just say what form I want and I can turn into a wolf.”

“Whoa, that’s interesting,” the mint one said, circling around him. “I’ve only ever seen Changelings use that kind of magic, and even then it’s a tricky spell to use. You boys must have a lot of latent potential if your story’s true and you just had this happen.”

“I’ll say. You know, we know your names, but not to your faces. I’m Bon Bon, and that’s my wife, Lyra.”

“Well, I’m Zander. That one’s Mathias, this guy’s Mike, and that short stack is Sam, I guess.”

“Hey, I’m not short! God made me this high and said, ‘that’s enough’,” Sam said. “Also I don’t think I can do that. I tried saying, ‘normal’ and ‘human’ and everything in between. Think I might be stuck like this.”

“Oh, this is great!” Mathias said. “Fantastic! We’re stuck in another world with weird magic and now we’ve got no idea what we’re doing anymore!”

“Hey, calm down,” Bon Bon said. “We know some ponies back in the town’s Guild that could probably help you with magic. Besides, with what’s coming up, Lyra and I thought it’d be better if we took you with us.”

“Much as I’d love to, oh hold on-” Zander said. “Human.” The fur on his body flashed and burned away while his muzzle crumbled off of his face. “Guh, never getting used to that. Anyway, much as I’d love to personally accompany you, what seems to be the rush?”

“Well, it’s Bugbear migration season so the town has to put out a warning and call in nearby adventurers to protect the town,” Lyra said.

“I’m sorry, what bears?” Mathias said, his eye twitching.

“Bugbears. Part wasp, part polar bear. Extremely aggressive and confrontational beasts that won’t hesitate to naw your body in half if you smell good enough,” Bon Bon said.

“What kind of fresh Hell did we wake up in!?” Mathias screamed.

“Welcome to Equestria, colts,” Lyra said.

Chapter 2

View Online

The guys stood there shocked. The words from Lyra, “Welcome to Equestria,” rang in their heads over and over again, as they tried to process what she meant by it.

“How the hell are we in another fucking world?” Mike said in shock

“Well, there’s Stargates, magical summonings, Warp travel, cursed land, ancient pacts, time phenomenon, wormholes, there’s a lot of stuff that could easily fill in the gap,” Sam said, rattling off random ideas. “Maybe the book brought us? I mean, after Matt read it there was a flash and we did wake up here. In magical animal bodies, to boot.”

“Hey, we at least found out how to change back and forth between them,” Zander followed up. “You’re still stuck that way and can’t really do much.”

“I think I’m fine with this, honestly,” Sam said, patting his chest. “I mean, I feel a lot better like this than I did before. Plus, I’m pretty sure that thing on my tail can act as a hand, so that’ll be cool to figure out. Imagine how many minis I could make with that! … oh, I made myself sad again.”

“What? Why?” Zander asked.

“My Orks and Skitarii were trashed after the house got teleported or whatever. They’re… they’re all broken. And I ran out of the special glue, so I wanted to buy more with the fight money, but yeah, you won. And we’re in another world, so I doubt they have a Warhammer store here.”

“We’re stranded in another fucking world!” Mathias said, holding his head in his hands. “Why did I fucking read that stupid God-forsaken book!? I should have just left it there and let it gather dust, but no! I had to be a curious cat and deepthroat a fucking gun barrel! Now we’re stuck in a world with weird pony monsters, I’m part bird, you’re a fucking lizard and everything I worked for in life is a fucking lie! FUCK!” he screamed, kicking a hole in the wall.

“You know, if you can stop screaming we may know someone who can help you guys,” Lyra brought up pulling two fingers from her ears.

“Oh really, like who?” Mike asked begrudgingly.

“Some powerful wizards at the Adventurers’ Guild that’s in the center of town,” Bon Bon followed up. “It was actually where we were planning to go to gear up for the Bugbear swarm. I need to get my club refurbished, and Lyra needs her lyre fixed too.”

“I broke a string during a fight trying to get off multiple buffs,” Lyra said. “Trying to play three different notes on the same string is a quick way to break your equipment. And your fingers.”

“This sounds… eerily like some kind of RPG,” Zander said.

“Oh my God we were fucking Isekai’d,” Mathias said, facepalming. “I can’t believe that all of my hours studying instead of playing ESO are actually going to work out badly for me now. This is what I get for being a good student, punished for not playing games.”

“Oh, well this isn’t good,” Sam said. “I don’t really play video game RPGs, just tabletop. Well, this should be fun. Or not. Depends on the 1’s and who’s rolling them. Also, I don’t think that armor would help a lot. It leaves way too much exposed. You’d be better off armoring up with random junk you’d find off a skeleton. Don’t know why you’d wear it, honestly, I mean come on, we can see your underwear without even trying.”

Bon Bon glared at the small man before she raised a fist and bopped him over the head, his feet breaking through the ground as if he were a nail hammered into place.

“Excuse you, this style we wear is inspired by the great goddesses’ attire, mine modelled after the Goddess of War herself,” Bon Bon said.

“Maybe they wore it because their skin was impervious, not because it was functional,” Sam responded. “Also, I feel like that should have hurt more than it did.”

“What’re they talking about?” Lyra asked in confusion.

“It’s a long story,” Mike sighed. “Anyways the reason he said that is because armor where we’re from isn't this skimpy. It’s focused more on protection.”

“Your world sounds weird,” She added, making Mike’s eye twitch before he sighed. “Besides, when we fight one another, it’s supposed to be a test of skill, not a brutal showcase of bloodlust. It’s about how you can disarm and disable your opponents in a fight, not outright killing them. I could go on with a lecture, but I feel like a Guild’s Guide is what you need to read and understand it.”

“Anyways, you said someone at this guild might be able to help us?” Mike asked.

“Well, there might be somepony. We don’t really know many mages or wizards apart from those that frequent the Guild, and even then only a couple really fit the bill on the whole, ‘summoning aliens’ kind of skill level.”

“So do you guys have one on you?” Mathias asked.

“No, but we can go to the guild so you can pick one up,” Bon Bon followed up, as she's walking away from the group. “So are you coming or what?”

“Well, we don’t exactly have a choice, do we?” Zander said. “I say we just go with it and fly by the seat of our pants to wherever we end up.”

“Yeah, let’s see where this goes,” Sam added. “Not like there’s anything keeping us here. A wrecked house is a wrecked house, not like something’s gonna take it.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever. Let’s just go, I guess,” Matt said.

“True,” Mike added as they went with the girls, towards the guild.

As they walked through the town, they saw that it reminded them of what looked like a standard fantasy starter town. Every house was two stories tall, made with wood and had thatch roof lining. They were all laid out spacious enough for ponies to gather and set up tables or even a sparse few stalls between them, selling off random trinkets and goods. They continued to walk along the cobblestone paths, eventually making way to a large roundabout with a river flowing from another end of the town to what looked like a castle in the center of the place. In the middle of the roundabout was a massive tree with windows and balconies all over its upper half, as if they had carved their way into a living tree and made it a home, complete with lanterns and magic symbols decorating it. As they kept walking, more and more ponies started to notice the four men walking down the streets. Some stared only for a second before returning to whatever they were doing, but some kept watch. The guys couldn’t help but stare either, as almost all of the ponies they were passing were scantily clad mares in maiden dresses or far too casual clothes that hid only slightly more than what Bon Bon and Lyra were wearing. Of the few stallions they’d seen, they were always surrounded by mares at all times, and one was even being carried by a pair of mares.

“This place is… uh,” Zander started, trailing off as he stared at a mare whose short skirt hid nothing while she weeded her garden.

“Yeah, I mean, there’s no walls for fortifications against enemy attacks, no sentry towers, they haven’t even raised the dirt to give themselves a height advantage!” Sam said, shaking his head. “It’s like they’re actually begging for this place to get sieged.”

“Pretty sure that’s not what’s weird here,” Matt said, watching a mare chopping wood, her upper half naked and coated with sweat while she smiled a predatory grin at him.

“Why do all these mares have such skimpy clothes?” Mike asked Lyra. “This isn’t normal where we’re from.”

“Well, there was once a time where Mares fought for the opportunity to secure a mate when the Early World was still in the Times of Chaos, so most mares wore their clothes and armor this way to prove that they were more attractive and get stallions to notice them more, while also intimidating any rivals,” Lyra explained. “If a mare shows off that she’s got wider hips and bigger breasts that can start and support a family, then it attracts a stallion to something comforting, so all mares started to follow in those hoofsteps. Eventually, it became the norm. Even to this day, however, we’re still cursed by Eris and Cosmos to have a permanent shortage of stallions in the world. So essentially, Chaos magic is to blame, and we’ve just accepted it since.”

“Huh. That’s a… very detailed answer,” Mike said.

“I’ll be honest, I kept failing Ancient History classes at my old Adventurer’s school so I hypnotized myself to remember the lessons word-for-word,” Lyra said sheepishly.

“That’s scary,” Mike added.

“Kinda weird. I mean, why curse a race to have less guys around? What’s even the point? There’s still going to be guys, so why not just cut out the middleman and kill everything? What was stopping them from just burning the whole world down and moving to the next?”

“They were Chaos Gods, so they wanted to laugh and cause chaos,” Lyra said. “Apparently they wouldn’t find much enjoyment in outright slaughter, only situations that they themselves found humorous.”

“Man, Chaos Gods suck in every dimension.”

“Yeah, I guess they do.”

“Whelp, there’s the Guild,” Bon Bon said.

The group approached a massive congregation of buildings, all brick and mortar stacked up three stories high with at least a ten meter clearance around all sides from the nearest road or cottage. It was sectioned off into major sections, one open with a market selling food, weapons, bikini armor and stange books. Another was lined with stained-glass windows with lights glowing inside, an occasional ‘boom’ coming from within. The main building had a crest depicting the sun and moon in a yin-yang fashion, with large brass letters spelling out, “Ponyville Guild.”

“So this is the guild you mentioned earlier,” Mike asked Lyra and Bonbon.

“Yeah, this is the main guild that we have in town,” Bonbon followed up with pride. “There are several other adventure guilds across Equestria when it comes to other adventurers. Some are friendly while others can be straight assholes.”

“How much of an asshole is the worst guild?” Zander asked.

“Let’s just say that if they represented the best of us, your friend would’ve been right saying that the Chaos Gods should’ve killed us off,” Bon Bon said.

“Okay, we’ll take your word for it,” Mike said as they followed the girls inside of the building.

When they walked in, they were met with cheering, songs and banter of a multitude of ponies in the Guild’s main foyer. There were tables lined up with ponies talking or eating with one another, a board where many different groups were looking at papers. Of the ponies there, there were barely a few scarce stallions here and there, all the mares wearing skimpy armor of many different kinds. Some wore wrappings around their breasts that didn’t cover anything else, some wore robes that weren’t closed or didn’t reach past their hips, and some wore what looked like bikinis made of cloth with bits of metal covering only the barest parts of their privates, though the gloves and shin-guards they wore were all well made and somewhat normal, even the shoulder coverings were somewhat decent.

“Okay, whatever Goddesses you ponies were following to model your armor after was clearly an exhibitionist,” Zander said, eyeing up the mares. “Not that anyone’s complaining, though. I know I’m gonna like it here.”

“It offers no protection and bothers me greatly,” Sam said.

“So everyone dresses like this? Seriously?” Matt said.

“We mentioned that on the way earlier,” Bon Bon added.

“I didn’t want to believe it,” Matt responded.

“How dare you,” Lyra exclaimed. “You shouldn’t just disrespect the way we do things here. You should atone for what you said at the church, lest you invoke the goddesses’ wrath.”

“Okay sheesh, no need to get your panties in a twist,” Zander said as he didn’t want to deal with her yelling.

“Like I said, it’s not normal back home,” Mike replied with a sigh. “It’s just gonna take a while to get used to.”

“Damn, you guy wouldn’t happen to have a bathroom around here do you?” Zander asked. “I kinda need to drain the snake.”

“Drain the what now?” Lyra asked in confusion.

“You know, take a piss,” Zander said. “What, never heard that before?”

“Sorry, we just haven’t heard many stallions use euphemisms like that,” Bon Bon said. “Yeah, you’ll find the Guild’s restrooms over in the lounge, this way,” she said, motioning for him to follow.

“Okay,” Mike said as they followed the girls to the lounge room.

Inside, there were tables of ponies playing card games, pool tables and dart boards. The room was pleasantly dim and a nearby pair of ponies were playing string instruments, filling the room with calming music. A bar with hundreds of bottles of ale, wine and whiskey sat at the far end with the stools full of adventurers. Above the bar was a sign depicting different colored charms and the prices relevant to those colors. At the far end was a split in the wall, the two sections labelled off by the symbols for male and female, although there was no door to keep anyone out.

“Okay, restrooms are over there and you guys can just hang here for a bit while we rest before our next job,” Lyra said with a smile as she and Bonbon walked away.

“Okay, I’ll be back,” Zander followed up as he walked away from the guys. The three looked around and sat at a nearby table, looking around at all the ponies while a few stared at them.

“God, I hate it here already,” Matt said. “Everybody’s staring and I feel like they’ll start stabbing at us at any second.”

“Oh relax,” Sam said. “If they were gonna stab us, I’m sure that they’d already have. Besides, if an alien walked into class one day I’m pretty sure everybody would stare at it too.”

“Well we’re technically the aliens here to a world of busty bombshell pony girls and not to mention they all wear skimpy armor and go on adventures to who knows where in this crazy world,” Mike replied with a dull stare. “What’s next, and how long are we gonna be stuck here?”

“I think that, until we can find out how to reverse whatever that book did, we’re going to be here for a while,” Mathias said. “Considering the book burned up the moment that… spell, for a lack of a better word, was cast, it’s going to be more or less a guessing game. If worst comes to worst… we might be stuck here forever.”

“So then we start anew!” Sam said happily. “Come on, how many people have always dreamed about waking up in a new world where they could do anything! We could become adventurers and do cool stuff, or maybe we could build some stuff from Earth and make a fortune. World’s ours to make whatever we want, so why question a good opportunity?"

“What’s this about dreams?” Zander asked as he got out of the bathroom.

“Something we were just talking about for if we’re stuck here or not,” Mathias said with a sigh.

Zander was about to ask what about it, when they suddenly heard a loud scream from a mare coming from the entrance.

“Move out of the way!” she screamed, running past several ponies.

The mare was a tall, white Unicorn with a purple mane and tail, wearing skimpy black cloth-like armor. Her arms were covered in fingerless gloves while she wore thigh-high stockings with the top and bottom ends clamped with metal pieces. She wore a sarong that matched the rest of her set, though it was covered with a print of three light blue diamonds, hanging over her thighs but leaving her black thong exposed. Her topwear consisted of a cape that went from her shoulders to the small of her back, and a bra-like piece that held her massive breasts in place, real diamonds in the center of each cup.

“Please stand aside, I don’t have much time!” she screamed, her clothes wafting with smoke as a hissing sound followed her.

“What’s up with her?” Mike asked in confusion. “Also what’s that hissing noise?”

She ran past their table, the group seeing her clothes being burned away by something before she tripped. Her bra and panties burned away when she hit the ground, leaving her completely exposed for a moment before she covered herself and got up. While she was getting up, she ended up mooning the guys before she ran for the mare’s restroom.

Jaws dropped, three of them said nothing before Sam talked.

“Hope whatever that was isn’t airborne.”

“Nah, just a run in with some Slimes.”

They turned around to see another mare approaching, this one an orange mare with large, defined muscles and easily a head taller than most everyone in the tavern. She wore red shin guards and leather-like gauntlets. Around her hips were large plates held on by belts around her waist and very thick thighs, the plates bearing three red apples on either side, neither of which covered her small black panties. Her chest was even more impressive than her muscles, held in place by a chainmail bikini, struggling to stay put without snapping.

“Sorry y’all had to see that,” She said as she picked up the burning clothes left by her friend while she talked to them.

“Rarity got herself into a tango with some slimes for eating the gold from our last quest. Course, they didn’t take too kindly to that, so they made a meal out of her armor. Well, one did after she took out the rest.”

“Hey, we heard screaming,” Bonbon said as she and Lyra showed up again. “What happened?”

“Tall, blonde, and beautiful over here mentioned that one of her friends got jumped by slime and made a meal of her clothes,” Zander said with a smile.

“Hey now, just cause my friend back there gave y'all a show doesn’t mean you’re gettin’ any o’ this. Ah ain’t one fer stress relievin’ much as I am fer stress inducin’,” the orange mare said with a grin. The guys blushed in response hearing that, and she chuckled seeing their reaction. “Anyways, I’m gonna go get Rarity’s armor and weapons fixed up, before we head out again.”

She walked away leaving the guys stunned at what she said and Lyra and Bon Bon had to drag the guys back to the lounge to shake them out of that.

“Sorry about that,” Lyra responded. “That was Applejack and Rarity you saw earlier and Applejack has a tendency to say what’s on her mind when anyone compliments about how she looks.”

“Saw that firsthand,” Mike responded with a sigh. “Anyways, when they described gold they got earlier, what did they mean by that?”

“Well, the Guild puts up requests given to us by ponies in town or in nearby villages, holds onto their money and dolls out the payment to whoever can complete the task. The Guild takes 5-20 percent depending on when it’s completed and how much the reward’s worth, but it’s a standard method to handing out quests,” Bon Bon explained.

“So they pay out with actual gold and not paper currency?” Mathias asked.

“Why would we trade paper?” Bon Bon said. “That seems pointless.”

“Yeah, try trading imaginary numbers with plastic cards,” Sam mumbled.

“Well, if you’re looking to get started, it’s probably for the best you guys head down to the Guild Receptionist at the entrance. She could hook you guys up with some ID and a quest or two to get the ball rolling.”

“There’s also the guild master who can probably guide you to the training grounds out, but be warned; you piss him off or you’ll be in more trouble than that later.,” Lyra added with a wink.

“What did she mean by that?” Mike asked.

“Probably meant that he’ll push our shit in so far we’d taste it for weeks,” Sam said. “Wait, what about that wizard you said you’d help us find?”

“Well from the looks of it, we didn’t see her when we got back,” Lyra said. “So either she’s not in town or had some royal business to take care of,”

“We can talk about this later, we still got a bugbear invasion to deal with as well as getting our gear fixed and ready for action,” Bonbon added. “Later you guys.”

“Yeah, see ya,” she added. Both ponies left leaving the guys alone.

“Okay, looks like we’re stuck here for now, so we should probably see who this receptionist is as well as the guild master,” Mathias brought up.

“Sounds like a plan,” Mike added.

They got up and left the tavern, walking back the way Bon Bon showed them to the main entrance, though now when they got there they saw the most massive pony thus far. He was easily almost nine feet tall, with muscles larger than Sam if he curled into a ball. He wore heavy plated armor, strapped down to his practically explosive muscles. His fur was stark white and his mane and tail blonde, cut extremely short. He also wore a loincloth, with a significant bulge hiding beneath it. His armor’s chest piece was carved with two dumbbells, and instead of a weapon at his side he had large brass knuckles that covered his hands. There was also an engraving that said Bulk the Guild master on a gold plate in his shoulder piece.

“And you said that they walked in with Bon Bon and Lyra?” he asked to a mare, his voice intensely garbled.

“Geez, who is that guy?” Mike said in shock and confusion.

“He looks like he can rip us in half,” Mathias said with fear on his face. “Like he’s been hardened by battle all his life.

“You’re telling me,” Zander added. “I’d hate to be the sorry sap who pissed him off.”

“I’m sure of it, there was one with grey and purple scales up to his neck too,” the mare at the desk said. “Oh, I think that’s them over there,” she said, pointing to the group.

“Oh shit,” Sam said. “I knew I should have put on some pants.”

The massive stallion walked up to the group, staring down his own massive pectorals at them while Sam pushed his way to the front.

“Guys, run. I can buy you… fifteen seconds. Should be enough to get a head start.”

“Hey, calm down little guys,” he said. “Not gonna hurt ya, just wanted to get to know the new guys. I’m Guildmaster Bulk Biceps, but most call me Dumbbell,” he said, extending a hand.

“Oh. Well, nice to meet ya, then!” Sam said, going in for the handshake. “I’m Sam, and these are my friends, Mike with the weird arm, Zander with the grey hair, and Mathias with the blonde. Nice place you’ve got here, by the way.”

“Thank you! It’s nice to know that some ponies, or rather creatures, can appreciate the work we’ve put in here. I like to think we’ve all pitched in, though, and without every creature’s contribution, this place wouldn’t be half of what it is now. It’s not as fancy as Canterlot’s or as impressive as Stalliongrad’s, but it’s what the creatures of Ponyville and the area around here have got, and we’ve made it work.”

“Wow, you seem pretty nice, despite your intimidating size,” Mathias followed up.

“He’s used to that by now,” A mares’ voice called out, getting the guys attention. A mare was behind the desk at the reception as she waved at them. Long, flowing grey hair fell from the tan mare’s head, red glasses framing her eyes. She wore a tight vest with the top few buttons undone, an ascot hanging just over her large cleavage. Her legs were clad with tight boots while thigh-high fishnets reached up to her ass, a miniskirt hanging over her supple cheeks while a symbol of a scroll with a feather pen was imprinted on her bottom.

“Hello, I’m Mayor Mare,” she said, bowing her head. “I’m the mayor of Ponyville and acting receptionist for the Guild.”

“Hello,” The guys responded with a smile towards her.

“Sorry about not seeing you boys earlier,” Mayor Mare replied. “Lyra and Bonbon told me what happened earlier.”

“It’s fine,” Mike replied. “We kinda got spooked by the big guy over here.”

“Oh don’t let his looks fool you,” She said with a smile. “He may be strong, but he’s a gentle giant through and through. It’s why he’s my most trusted Guildmaster here.”

“We can see that,” Zander added. “He still looks like he can tear us as if we were made of paper.”

“Bah! Good luck getting him to try that,” she dismissed with a laugh. “Nopony or creature has been able to tick him off in years. I knew him since he was a recruit at the Guild. Though he’s quite a fearsome looking stallion, he’s actually very slow to violence, and sometimes he needs a little extra encouragement to get the job done,” she added with a sway of her hips as she walked from behind the counter. “So, what's your reason for being within the guild?” She added bending over giving the guys a good view of her cleavage.

“Uh… well, I can think of a couple good ones,” Zander said, staring into her chest.

Mathias punched his arm to snap him out of it.

“We’re looking for a wizard who might be able to help us find a way home and we were told that she’d be here,” Mike said.

“Yeah, we found these amulets and read a book and suddenly our house managed to teleport to the outskirts of this town,” Mathias said. “And they kinda look like what our friend Sam has embedded into his chest,” he said, patting the medallion in Sam’s chest.

“Medallions?” She asked in confusion. “What do they look like exactly?”

The guys then described how each of the medallions looked like and she only looked even more confused.

“I’m afraid that I can’t help you boys with that,” She replied with a sigh, crossing her arms under her chest, hefting up her bosom.

“Why’s that?” Mathias asked.

“She’s not in town right now,” She replied. “Also I don't even know the story behind those medallions. The wizard who may be able to help you left on royal business a few hours ago, so she won’t be back in town for another few weeks.”

“Aw what?” Mike said in annoyance. “Well that’s just great.”

“That is hilariously inconvenient,” Sam said, chuckling. “Oh man.”

“Well, what now?” Mathias asked in annoyance.

“Maybe Twilight Sparkle could find a solution,” she said with a smile. “PHer and her little raid party can probably help you boys as well.”

“Who's that?” Mathias asked.

“She’s one of our best adventurers as well as her raid party being powerful maidens,” Mayor Mare replied. “You can look around the guild to try and find her or a member of her party that may be able to help you since items like what you were describing earlier aren’t really my jurisdiction.”

“So where do we find them?” Zander asked.

“One sec,” she said as she went behind her counter again and picked up what looked like four cards. “You boys can use these to get around the guild.”

The cards in question were small, brown slips that were about as thick as a credit card but felt almost like stone. There were blank spaces labelled to show their names, races, classes and stats, as well as a square for their pictures. While they were holding them, the cards glowed in their hands as light ran up and down their bodies. Once the light faded, the cards started to carve out the information themselves.

“Whoa, that’s awesome!” Sam said.

“Yep, the cards react to whoever touches them, and it’s how you can freely get around the guild in certain places,” She added with a smile. “As you get stronger, the cards change color and the star level on them increases. There are ten ranks total, but you’re currently on the zero ranking right now.”

“What's rank zero then?” Mathias asked.

“Scrap ranking,” she said with a sigh.

“Well don’t feel so down, guys,” Bulk said. “I’ve been Rank 4, Gold, for most of my career. It’s pretty tough to rank up these days. Most of the high-rank Adventurers out there barely make it past Rank 6.”

“Wait, what’s the ranking system then if Gold is so low?” Zander asked.

“Well, it goes Scrap, Wood, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Pearl, Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Topaz, and Platinum,” Mayor Mare added. “Also, when you rank up there are certain areas that only you can be able to access when you pick a specific class.”

“There are classes we pick?”

“And you boys can only pick one,” She added, with a wave. “Anyways, good luck with finding the girls, you’ll love them and I’m sure they can help you boys out.”

“Okay,” Mike said as they left the front desk. “Okay guys, since she said that Twilight or members of her party may be around, we should split up to cover more ground. We can meet up back at the front desk just in case.”

“Whelp, in that case, I’m gonna grab a bite. Haven’t eaten since yesterday. I think. I can’t tell how long we were out for in the house, but whatever I’m starving,” Sam said, walking away. “Later guys, good luck!”

The guys eventually split up and they each check out the specific areas around them.

Chapter 3

View Online

-Mike’s Meeting-

Mike was walking away from his friends and thought back to the care package that he got from his mysterious parents before their passing. He still wasn’t sure why they sent him the package in the first place, let alone why they had to gain by giving this to him.

“What I don’t understand is why they sent me this,” He thought to himself as he continued to ponder his new situation that he and his friends were put in. He didn’t pay attention though when he made contact with a sigh in front of him. He hit his head against it and he let out an ‘oof’ as he stumbled backwards onto the floor.

“Damn that hurt, huh?” He said as he looked up after rubbing his forehead, only to see that the sign read Training grounds. “Training grounds huh? Guess I can start there.” He walked over towards a large gate and saw that there were a few names on it. Looking down he could see two names that got his attention.

“Twilight Sparkle and Applejack?” He said to himself as he walked though. He didn’t pay attention to the other names underneath them as he walked into the gate. The gate suddenly flashed and his card flashed before it died down after a few seconds. Soon as he could see what was in front of him, he gasped at the sight of it.

The massive courtyard was easily the size of a football field, with different arenas sectioned off in rings about the size of a tennis court. The walls around the place were stacked high enough to reach the top floor of the Guild, all made of thick bricks. Next to the rings were different ranges of wooden training weapons, each ring its own terrain with one being grassy, one being sand, another being a literal pit of fire and one covered in mist, possibly to help trainees learn how to fight in different terrain.

“Geez, is this just a training guild or do they have a fort or something?” He said in shock, still mesmerized by how vast the place was.

“Watch out!” A mares voice shouted, snapping him out of his shock. Mike turned to where the voice came from but what he saw made him freeze up like a deer watching headlights from a car before it hits them. What was heading his direction was a massive hammer that was spinning in his direction very fast and looked like it was going to hit him.

“Sweet merciful Jesus,” He shouted as he snapped out of it and ducked. The hammer missed and he heard a loud crash behind him. He looked up to see one of the columns that he stood near was pretty muched caved in. “Christ...I thought I was gonna die.”

“Mighty sorry about that,” a southern female voice said, getting his attention once again. He looked up to see an armored hand being offered to him. He looked up to see that it was the same blonde mare that he ran into before in the entrance earlier. “Y’all alright?”

“Yeah I’m fine,” He said as he took her hand and she helped him up. “Sorry about that, I was working on mah control for the new hammer I got enchanted.”

“You mean the hammer that almost killed me?” He joked, pointing towards the destroyed column. “Yeah, how’s that workin out for ya?”

“Hey, are you okay?” Mike heard another mare’s voice getting his attention as well as the orange mares attention. He turned to her and was pretty shocked seeing her.

The mare approaching was massive, easily a few inches over the orange one. Her fur was lavender and her mane and tail were long, straight curtains of dark purple with two streaks of shades of pink. She wore a golden necklace, an intricate thing of many different arcane sigils engraved in each one, totalling up to 17 plates that wrapped around her collarbone. Her breasts were held in large, rounded golden plates suspended by gold wires, with gold wrist protectors on her arms. Above her hips was another armor piece of gold, a belt with a large purple gem in the center that suspended a see-through skirt, through which Mike could see her white panties and the star pattern prints on her bare ass. What really stood out about her, however, was the tall horn on her head and the massive wings on her back.

“Um, yeah I’m fine,” He said, trying to compose himself.

“Yeah sorry about that,” She told him, while looking towards the destroyed column. “I was trying to help Applejack, and well... you saw the result.”

“It’s fine, I wasn’t paying attention,” He told her. “I was actually looking for someone named Twilight Sparkle.”

“Wait, you’re looking for me?” She asked in confusion.

“Wait, you're Twilight Sparkle?” He said in shock. “I thought you were someone else
“No, I was training with my friend Applejack,” She said looking at him dully. “Anyways, why were you looking for me?”

“Right, I was wondering if you knew anything about a set of special medallions me and my friends came across,” He said as he explained everything to both mares.

\\\\\/////

“So that’s what happened?” Twilight said in shock.

“Must’ve been pretty hard having to be beamed in a world ya know nothing about,” Applejack followed up with a somber look. “That’s gotta be scary.”

“At least we were able to meet some people who could help us out,” Mike replied.

“I’m afraid that we can’t help you with this though,” Twilight admitted with a sigh. “We’ve never even heard of these medallions and the fact that they grafted themselves onto you is rather disturbing.”

“Dang, so I’m out of luck here?” He said with a sigh. “Well that’s a pain.”

“We’re sorry sugarcube,” Applejack added with a somber tone in her voice. “We wish we could help you and yer friends, but we don’t know what planet yer from.”

“Yeah,” Twilight added. “Trying to find a planet where you're from is like trying to find a needle in a crystal mine.”

“Damn, well thanks anyways,” Mike said with a sigh. “Anyways, that hammer you threw, what were you trying to do earlier?”

“Oh ah was just working on magic deflection training with Twilight here,” Applejack said with a smile. “I got a rare stone that ah fitted onto mah hammer here and Twilight got a little too trigger happy with her spells.”

“I said I was sorry,” Twilight said, puffing her cheeks in annoyance. “How was I supposed to anticipate that he was going to show up at that moment?”

“I feel like I’m at fault since I got in the way of your training,” Mike said with a somber tone. “But I gotta say, it must be pretty hard with this kinda training as well as being an adventurer.”

“Hey, it’s what we gotta do, plus the reward of helping someone in need is well worth it,” Twilight added with a smile.

“What’s that in your hand btw?” He asked pointing towards the book she was holding.

The book in question was connected to her belt by a golden chain that ran through its spine. The cover was coated in a pitch black substance that looked almost like rock, with a shining crimson eye in the center of the cover, staring through Mike as though he were merely another target.

“Oh, Princess Celestia just sent this to me this morning,” Twilight said with a smile. “She said that it was a tome of advanced spells to help me on my journey as well as my friends.”

“Whose Princess Celestia?” He asked. Both girls just looked at him funny. “What?”

“Do you seriously not know who Princess Celestia is?” Twilight asked in shock, and Mike had his turn to give him a dull stare.

“Did you not follow when I said that me and my friends are from another world?” He added.

“Oh, right,” Twilight blushed. “Anyways, she and her sister Princess Luna are the rulers of Equestria in Canterlot City. Long ago she and a few other rulers from different countries teamed up to face a common threat that was a real danger back then.”

“Threat?”

“Someone who was mighty dangerous long ago,” Applejack added, turning to her friend. “Twilight.”

“Well,” Twilight said, levitating the book before her, the pages glowing and flipping on an invisible wind. “Long ago, the world was ruled by two absolute beings, Eris and Cosmos. They were Chaos Goddesses who sought to make mortal kind and our world their playthings. With every breath they took, every step they made and every snap of their clawed hands, the world around them trembled and shook, reshaping to be whatever they wanted. After spending centuries wreaking havoc on the creatures of the land, they fell in love and decided that they needed to share their love in a devious way. They corrupted the minds and hearts of all kinds of beings, tricking them into laying day and night with the Goddesses. When they did their deeds, the mortals would perish within minutes. Eventually, however, they started to eradicate dozens by week’s end, and hundreds in only a month. When the other Gods learned of the possible extinction, they blessed several warriors with great magic and medals of unrivalled powers, who were led by the avatars of Sol and Noctis. The Avatars were changed by the magic, becoming the most powerful mages and warriors of all the land, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Once the Goddesses were banished from the realm, the Princesses took the mantle of leading the ruined world back from the brink of disaster. They vowed to lead all kinds back to prosperity, and have been in power ever since. However, due to the ravenous lovemaking of the Goddesses, many generations went through severe shortages of stallions, and we seem to be approaching a similar age if the recent census is anything to go by. At the time, the Princesses are convening with the rulers of other nations to figure out how to get the population’s numbers corrected.”

“You’re saying that there are mostly females that populate the entire world?” Mike asked, shocked hearing the entire story. “That’s just insane.”

“Yeah, but we’ve managed so far, but we fear that our race and others may be in trouble if something isn’t done about it,” Applejack added.

“Is there any chance that this mysterious threat might show up again?” Mike asked in response. Just as the girls were about to say something, a burly voice interrupts them.

“Excuse me ladies?” The male voice called out towards Applejack and Twilight. The voice sounded annoying to Mike as he and the girls looked in the direction to find two burly stallions looking at them. They way they were eyeing the girls though was downright creepy.

One stallion was icy blue with a white mane and tail, with cold navy eyes. He wore polished white armor for a chest piece, with white metal strapped to his legs and arms, his loincloth matching his armor’s color.

The second stallion was rust colored with a brown mane and tail, his eyes green. The armor he boasted was chainmail, with actual chains wrapped around his forearms and shins, a curtain of chains and chainmail making a battle kilt that reached his knees.

“Um, can I help you both?” Twilight asked in confusion.

“Oh, we were wondering if we could spar with you lovely ladies?” The rusted colored brown stallion asked, holding out a hand. “My name is Brass Knuckle, and this is my friend Cold Shoulder.”

“I was actually trying to listen to a story that they were telling me about the history of this place and you guys simply butt in,” Mike said as he got up. “Plus I don’t think they wanted to be bothered right now since they were training just fine on their own.”

“Listen here scrappy,” Cold Shoulder said, placing his hand on Mike’s shoulder, “just walk away, alright? This is business between actual adventurers, not some weird newbie who wants to look impressive because he’s talking to a high rank Raid Party.”

“Says the guys who are more focused on rank,” Mike said, slapping the stallion’s hand off. “Maybe learn to read the room. We were talking about something and you’re the ones coming in here boasting about rank. From what I see, you’re just Bronzes anyway. To me it looks like you’re the losers trying to aim higher than you can reach.”

“You bastard!” Brass shouted as he shoved Mike onto the floor. “This is between us and the two mares here, not some wannabe rookie.”

“Learn your place, scraphead, at the bottom!” Cold said, pushing Mike by the shoulder while Brass swept Mike’s legs out from under him.

He rolled onto the floor before picking himself up, wiping his face before nodding.

“Okay, zero to pissed in a moment,” Mike said as he stood up and both stallions chuckled thinking they had an easy fight on their hands. “You guys just made a big mistake.”

“Get real, newbie, the only mistake here is-” CRACK

Cold Shoulder didn’t have time to finish the sentence before Mike’s reformed arm shot out like a viper, slamming straight into his muzzle. Blood shot out in a mist from the hit, sending Cold onto his back while he screamed in pain, clutching his face. Mike blinked as he examined his hand. He could barely feel the punch land, as if he were hitting a cloud. The scary part was that he wasn’t even aware he had punched the mouthy bastard, he only got as far as imagining it before it happened.

“Huh, didn’t think that would happen,” He said to himself and the other stallion now looked pissed.

“The fuck did you do, you bastard?”

“Even back home,” He said cracking his knuckles. “I don’t let jackasses like you push me around. Plus it’s what your friend gets for earlier. Now you’re next.”

“You’re fucking dead,” Brass said as he pulls out a spear.

“Those creeps,” Applejack said as she was about to step in, but felt Twilight grab her by the shoulder. “Why’re you stopping me?”

“Why don’t we just watch for a bit and see what happens with this fight?” She said with a smile. “That arm of his is intriguing. I want to know why he hid it, and what he can do with it.”

“Hope you know what yer sayin Twi,” Applejack said as she backed off to watch the fight.

“If I see more blood I’ll put them in Stasis and break it up.”

“Fine.”

Brass grabbed a second spear and tossed it to Cold. It landed beside the stallion, prompting him to get up. Despite the clearly broken muzzle, he snarled and grabbed the shaft of the spear, using it to prop himself up.

“You...you’re fucking screwed for that asshole,” Cold said as he used some ice magic with his training spear to give it a sharper edge. “Let’s see how you like it when we send you into Intensive Care.”

“You mean where you’re going?” He said with a glare. “I’ll be sure to send you some nice flowers and a card. Would you prefer daisies or daffodils?”

Both stallions got even more pissed and just charged at him with death glares and their spears pointed at them. They made a simple mistake when it came to Mike, they greatly underestimated him. Growing up with four friends back home, he learned how to fight on his own as well as pick up a few martial arts along the way. The ones that he was most fluent at were Tae Kwon Do, and Jeet Kune Do.

Cold and Brass charged at him with their spears, and he simply jumped over them with a smile on his face, landing a flying roundhouse kick towards the both of their heads. The force of the kick caused both males to get staggered for a bit. Mike landed behind them and sweeped the spear out from Brass to bash their heads. It smacked against them, knocking them into each other.

“First hits mine on both of you,” Mike said, twirling the spear. “Still feel like hot shit? Because if you do, it’s only because one of those two words applies to your skills.”

“I’ll Kill you,” Brass Shouted as he pulled out his signature weapon, a pair of gauntlets that allowed him to focus his strength into them for devastating hits. “You’re gonna be sorry you picked a fight with us you piece of shit.”

“Not as sorry as you’re gonna be,” Mike said as he took a defensive stance with the spear he swiped from Brass. With Cold out for the count Brass lunged at Mike ready to deliver a strong uppercut. The look on his face showed that he was serious about killing him. Applejack wanted to step in, but Twilight continued to hold her back with a smile on her face.

Brass kept lunging and throwing punch after punch to hit Mike who had kept dodging and keeping his distance with the spear in his hand. Brass would then try to punch the ground that he was under so he could trip Mike onto his back to where he would punch him in the gut, only for Mike to jump when he sees his fist collide in the ground.

“Now you’re just predictable,” Mike followed up. “If you think with anger you’ll only lose sight of what’s in front of you.”

“Okay, that’s it!” Brass shouted. “Cold! Double Team!”

“Right!”

Cold Shoulder took in a deep breath before blowing a cloud at Brass. Brass twirled his arms through the cloud before the magic condensed over his fists and forearms, encasing them in solid ice. He slammed the ice-clad fists together, an act that caused them to flash brass before they formed into giant spiked fists.

“Game over, Newbie,” Brass said before charging.

Mike backed away, poking with the spear to keep a distance while Brass kept his guard up, deflecting each strike with ease as the spear’s tip scraped by over the icy surface. On one thrust, Brass reached out and grabbed the spear, snapping its tip off while pulling Mike in. Mike let go, but only after the pull had knocked him off balance. He tumbled towards Brass but ducked into a roll to go beneath the swing. While he did, he felt the air passing him drop nearly fifty degrees, a glaze of frost crusting over his back while he dodged the strike.

“Gah! Oh that’s freaking cold!” Mike said, shaking the frost off of him.

He turned just in time to dodge another few swings that Brass kept coming, causing Mike to back off every attack. He was losing ground fast, and Mike could tell that they were almost at the ring’s edge. Every swipe or swing that missed still froze the air around him, leaving Mike with his upper half nearly frozen over, barring his strange arm.

“Just give up, punk!” Brass said, missing another overhead. “Even if I can’t hit you, you’ll pass out from hypothermia thanks to our little duo move! Either way, you’re going down to the bottom where scum like you belong! So just make like a good little shit, and just give up!”

Brass swept his right hoof behind Mike’s left foot, tripping him up. Mike lost his balance and flailed his arms to recover, leaving himself wide open for Brass’ incoming strike. Before he could think to react, Mike’s strange arm intercepted the gauntlet.

There was a loud crack when Brass’ icy gauntlets burst into steam on contact, sending the stallion flying back, tumbling over himself. Those watching the fight were stunned at seeing Mike’s arm glowing blue.

“Woah, what the?” Mike said in shock, seeing his arm glowing. “Must be something new I got,” He said with a smile as he regained his balance and got up, dusting off his hands. He looked up to see a pissed off Brass as one of his gauntlets was broken thanks to Mike’s new arm gaining some power.

“You’re just asking us to put you in the hospital,” He said with a rage as he and Cold lunged at him.

“I wonder,” Mike said to himself as he rushed forward with his arms and before he knew it, a large blue hand outstretched and grabbed both stallions, much to their shock. They now had fear on their faces as they didn’t know what this was as they haven’t seen any special gear that was able to do that.

“H-hey, put us down,” Cold said with fear plastered on his face.

“Oh, I’ll put you guys down alright,” He said as he raised his fist in the air, the arm followed suit and lifted the stallions in the air. He brings his fist down and the stallions get slammed onto the floor. They both grunted when they fell to the floor and the impact knocked the wind out of them. He keeped at it with a few more slams as the stallions were now covered in bruises and they suddenly felt themselves pulled towards Mike and both males felt their faces get punched in by Mike's fists as he sent them into the floor. With the victory in his favor, he gets off of both males as they groaned from the slams and the punches they took from Mike as he dusted off his hands.

“Now, do you fellas want to apologize to me and the girls now, or do I gotta beat another lesson into you?” He said with a growl, cracking his knuckles.

“We’re sorry!” they cried in unison, getting to their knees and bowing. “Just don’t hurt us!”

“Yeah, we were just in it for the money and fame, honest!” Cold said.

“Yeah, we heard there were high-ranked Raid groups here so we wanted to try and impress them so we could form a Clan and make a living selling their winnings!” Brass cried.

“Oh really?” Twilight said with a glare as she stood up and walked towards them with Applejack following close behind. “So you were planning on having us do most of the work and try to mooch off of our success?”

Both males turned pale seeing their angry faces.

Speakin’ of ranks,'' Applejack said with a cold glare of her own. “Ah think you may need yer ranks reset since you lost to a scrapling adventurer as well,” Applejack added pointing to Mike.

The two looked at each other and hung their heads before getting up and leaving.

“Can’t believe we spent our life savings on these armors for nothing.” Brass grumbled to himself.

“No kidding,” Cold added. “This sucks.”

“Damned posers,” Mike said to himself as he was about to leave, but is suddenly stopped by Twilight, who had a serious and cheerful gleam in her eyes.

“That’s quite an interesting form of Magic,” Twilight said, her book floating with a quill scribbling itself into the pages. “I’ve seen Familiar summons and Duplicates that act similar, but I’ve never seen a magical power like this. Is it part of a faded Familiar or is it a manifestation of your own will? Is the arm mutated as a price after bargaining with a Daemon or is it a side effect from the strain of summoning?”

“Uh, personal space please?” Mike asked as he was now nervous with how she was looking. It would’ve been creepy, but her rather large chest was in his face.

“Twilight, give him some room,” Applejack said as she pulled the anxious alicorn away from him. “Anyways, you’re not really an adventurer yet, but ya seemed to know how to fight pretty well.”

“I took martial arts classes with the guys back home,” Mike added. “I’m no pushover, but I’ve never pulled anything off like that before. I don’t even know how I did that, but I tested a theory mid battle and got lucky.”

“Better hope that luck of yers can help you in the long run, with better training, you might become a strong adventurer later down the road.”

“Yeah, maybe,” He added.

“Anyways, what martial arts do you use?” Applejack asked.

“Oh, I mastered Tae Kwon do and Jeet Kune Do, my friend Sam mastered Karate and KickBoxing, Mathias knows Krav Maga and Judo, and my friend Zander has Tang Su Do and Sistema,” Mike added. “I can fill you in on what all these martial arts do later.”

“Fascinating,” Twilight said with a smile as she made separate pages for her notes. Applejack and Mike just look at her strangely and Mike turns to Applejack.

“Does she always do this?” He asked.

“Ya get used to it,” Applejack said with a sigh. “If it’s something she hasn’t seen or heard about, she has to record it.”

“So long as she understands personal space, I’ll be okay with it,” Mike added.

“Twilight! Applejack!” A female voice shouted and the sounds of footsteps rushing over to them.

The owner of the voice running up was a stunningly beautiful dragoness, as voluptuous and curvy as the mares, and wearing as revealing attire as the others. The Dragoness was mostly purple, with green fins and scales along her chest, arms and head. She wore a snow-white robe that ended in gold trims all along the edges. The sleeves were wide and hung quite loosely, but the robe only ended above her hips and tail, leaving her lower half completely exposed, save for her white thong and sandals. The back of the robe was also cut quite low to make room for her wings, though it did end up showing off more of her body.

“I just got a letter from Princess celestia and-” The dragoness stopped for a moment when she saw the new face in strange clothes. “who’s this guy?”

“Oh he’s someone who actually pretty strong despite his size,”

“That would explain the two bronze adventurers that I saw limping away,” She said with a sigh.

“Wait, are there other lizards like her here?” Mike asked. Twilight and Applejack immediately flinched at what he said. He was about to ask what he didn, but he heard a growling coming from Barb and he looked to see that she was pretty pissed off as she breathed out a puff of flames.

“What did you just say to me asshole?” She growled.

“We knew this was coming,” Twilight and Applejack said in unison.

“What did I do-” He couldn’t finish his sentence when he felt himself get tackled to the floor. He grunted when he made contact and he looked up to see a very pissed off dragoness who looked like she was going to tear his throat out. It also didn’t help that her claws were now around his neck as she began to strangle him.

“I dare you to call me that again you asshole,” she growled as she continued to squeeze onto his windpipe. Mike was struggling to breath but he felt his breath returning as he no longer felt her on top of him.He looked up wondering what happened and saw that Twilight had put her in a magical bubble. She was banging on it trying to get out so she could pummel Mike for what he said to her earlier.

“Crazy bitch, what was that for?” Mike asked, a little annoyed at what she tried to do.

“Oh, so you’re calling me a bitch now,” she growled in anger. “Let me out Twilight, I want to claw his eyes out.”

“Can you please let us explain before you try to kill him?” Twilight asked her.

“What is there to explain?” She growled with arms crossed.

“It’s a long story, and he didn’t mean to call you that earlier,” Twilight added with a reassuring smile. “Dragons don’t really exist in his world so It’s why he got you confused for one earlier.”

“Wait what?” She asked, no longer angry, but looking at him in confusion. “How do we not exist? What country is he from?”

“Not country sugarcube, from another universe entirely,” Applejack added, shocking Barb.

“I’m gonna let you out of the bubble now Barb, can you keep your cool and he can explain the whole misunderstanding?” Twilight told her with a stern tone. Barb simply nodded and Twilight undid the bubble and Barb was set down onto the ground.

“Sorry about earlier,” Mike said to her trying to forget about what she tried to do. “But yeah, dragons don’t exist in my world so that’s why I got confused. I should’ve asked about the wings behind you first before opening my mouth.

“Don’t worry about it, just don’t let it happen again,” She said with a smile. “I over reacted badly since you were new here, and my name is Barb. It’s pretty rare for a guy like you to beat a pair of bronze adventurers like those two back there.”

“Those assholes had it coming anyway,” Mike followed up. “Also the girls weren’t happy when they found out what they were trying to do.”

“Yeah speaking of that,” Barb said as she turned to Twilight and Applejack. “How did he beat those guys anyway?”

“He had a power we saw that even he didn’t know about,” Applejack explained pointing towards his right arm. “Wipe the floor with them with it and everything.”

“Woah, that’s crazy,” she said looking at his arm. “What kind of power do you have in that thing anyway?”

“Don’t know,” Mike added. “I was hoping that Twilight would know something, but even she doesn’t know, so I'll have to look elsewhere.”

“He didn’t use that right away,” Twilight explained. “From what he told us, he and his friends know martial arts so they already know forms of combat before they got here.”

“That’s cool,” Barb added with a smile. “Anyways, I wanted to talk with Twilight and Applejack alone about something.

“It’s fine, I need to get back to my friends anyway,” Mike said as he walked away from the girls.

“If you need to look for something, try the adventurers school, they might know something about what you’re talking about,” Twilight told Mike before he left.

“No problem,” He added, giving the mare a friendly wave before leaving. “Take care of yourselves.”

-Sam’s Meeting-

Sam couldn’t help but feel up his arms now that he was alone. The scales that now replaced his skin were impressive, sturdy and dug in hard enough to not be plucked. They were alien to what he once was, yet they felt natural. He could still feel through them, as if he still had his normal body somewhere underneath his hide.

Since their arrival he’d been curious why his change was so drastically different. Sure Mathias and Zander could turn into complete animals, literally in this case, but they could turn back. Mike couldn’t either, but he only had the one arm. Sam’s body refused to turn, and thus the small man was stuck in this mostly dragon state.

“I wonder if I can breathe fire,” he said aloud. “Probably shouldn’t since I still have a human head. It’ll probably burn straight through my skull. That’d be a really embarrassing way to go.”

He tried to flex his tail every so often, but all it did was manage to get a few twitches here and there followed by stomach cramps. What was strange was that the tail didn’t limply drag across the floor, it kept itself upright at times and turned when he’d need to squeeze past some ponies. It followed some natural instinct that managed to seed its way into him, but the thought didn’t frighten him. He almost welcomed it.

The pondering was cut as his stomach growled.

“Uh, what’s a dragonman gotta do to get some good eats around here?”

“Follow the music, little guy.”

Sam looked up to see a pair of mares walking down the hall, both Pegasi with white manes and indigo fur, both wearing what amounted to bikinis for armor.

“Yeah, the Feasting Hall’s full of spirits today,” the one with a bow said.

“Great time to get eating,” the one with dual swords said.

“Or maybe, good time to get eaten,” the first one whispered, running her hand along his shoulder.

“Maybe we can help each other get satisfied, here?” the second said, her hands on his other shoulder.

“So there’s a mess hall? Is there beef or chicken?” Sam asked.

They blinked and exchanged a look.

“Uh, neither for now, but there are a lot of cakes and-”

“Cake!” Sam said, startling the pegasi. “Holy shit we haven’t been able to afford a cake for months! God, I hope they have Strawberry!”

With that, he slipped between the two, their tails trying to catch his small body but failing to grasp his scales. They watched as he ran down the hall, looked at each other and sighed.

Sam heard the sound of music and stopped, focusing on finding the path to delectable flakey goodness. Once he found the source, he made his way to the large doors and burst through them, and was overwhelmed with the sight.

Mares and stallions were cheering, singing and drinking together in great joy while music filled the air. Whatever they were celebrating was clearly significant, because the whole hall was into it. Some were dancing on tables, some were having friendly brawls, there were even a few making out while others watched. More than that, some of those partying weren’t even ponies. Some were extremely large and furry creatures with massive horns jutting out the sides of their heads, bug-like ponies colored brightly with gems in their collarbones, a few griffons here and there and a dragon.

Also, nearly half of the hall was naked.

“Well, at least I won’t stand out,” Sam whispered to himself.

A mare turned to him and stared before shouting.

“NEEEEWWWBIIIIEEEEE!”

The music, banter, dancing, singing and kissing stopped as everyone turned to Sam.

“Oh… no.”

All eyes laid on him while the crowd parted ways for two massive mares.

One of the mares was yellow, with a long flowing mane of yellow and red. She wore large plated armor that properly covered her massive chest, sloped like a mountain turned sideways, with boots and gauntlets of polished silver, intricate runes carved into the plates with the emblem of a blazing yellow and red sun etched into the chest piece. Though her torso was properly covered, her thighs were barren of any covering or protection, leaving her impressive assets on display while a thin piece of cloth covered her crotch. She had a horn that stood at an impressive length, two massive feathered wings and stood easily close to eight or nine feet.

The other mare was very pink, her fur a light pink while her mane and tail were darker, though they were infinitely more fluffy than most creatures Sam had seen in his life. She wore a small little half-shirt that was barely a bra containing her titanic titties, large blue panties that were covered by a pink transparent sarong clinging to her lower half. Her thick thighs were tightly gripped by the baby blue silk stockings she wore beneath cork-leather shin guards. She stood only a few inches shorter than the other mare, leaving them both more than twice his height.

They had to crane their bodies over him slightly to be able to look at him over their own chests, Sam having to look nearly straight up to meet both sets of blue eyes.

‘If I don’t move they can’t see me,’ Sam thought to himself. ‘Since I’m purple, I’m invisible.’

“You’re pretty small, huh new guy?” the tall yellow one said.

‘Shit! I’m only purple with the small scales!’

“I think I know how to fix that,” the pink one said.

She turned around and grabbed something before presenting him with two options. In one hand she held a mug of ale, filled to the brim and ready to spill. The other was holding a plate with a slice of three-layered cake, stacked strawberry to vanilla to chocolate from bottom to top, with icing holding them together.

“Choose carefully, for this could decide your fate.”

Sam looked between the two options and pondered the meaning behind it. On one hand, ale, a good drink that shows one’s open to camaraderie, but it was also something that could lead to ruin if taken too liberally, eventually snowballing into arguments and fighting. On the other hand, cake, the symbol of delicious food that’s bad for your health, it could mean that he’d choose to eat alongside them, but at what cost? To choose it might show that he’d prefer the life of a glutton, to simply devour the hard work others put in which represented the ale, while he-

“Ah, fuck it!”

He grabbed the cake and slammed it down his throat before rinsing it down with the entire mug of ale before letting out a sigh of content. Everyone stared at him before he let out a loud belch.

When the sound went off, everyone cheered for him before returning to their original happenings, fighting and kissing alike.

“Good choice, stranger,” the yellow one said. “Too many get intimidated and only choose one of them.”

“Life’s too short to stop and think all the time, so best to enjoy it while it lasts.”

“A fine choice of words as well. Sunset Shimmer, Maiden of Sunlight,” she said, extending a hand.

“Samuel Ampill, but friends call me Sam,” Sam said, taking her hand.

“I can appreciate somepony open to embrace an offering like that so casually,” the pink one said. “There’s been a lot of darker days when some ponies and other creatures give me weird eyes and think I’m trying to do something bad when all I wanted to do was- anyway! On topic! I’m Pinkie Pie, the Laughing Lunatic!” she said, grabbing his other hand and shaking it vigorously.

“Don’t take her name seriously, she’s not as crazy as she seems sometimes,” Sunset added. “So, what brings a dragon like yourself to our Guild? Considering your lack of attire and scrap-rank card I can only assume you’re not really an adventurer.”

“Got that right, Miss Shimmer,” Sam said. “My friends and I arrived in town today and we’re a bit lost, so we came looking for some wizards or mages who can help. I’m guessing from how awesome you are that you probably know a couple.”

Sunset smiled and waved him off.

“Oh, such a flatterer. They say it gets you nowhere, but that’s a lie. I do know a few powerful magic users, yes, but I’m afraid they’re either on important business at the moment or are about to be. But when we’ve got free time, I’m sure they’d be delighted to help a nice little thing like you,” she said, patting his head.

“I don’t suppose you’ve got time to… indulge yourself~?” Pinkie said, offering another slice and mug.

“I shouldn’t,” he said, accepting the offering. “But I will. I mean, who would turn down such a cutie ‘Pie’ like yourself?”

Pinkie giggled and nudged him on the arm.

“Oh, I already like you a lot.”

“I’m also starting to grow fond of this company, little stallion,” Sunset said. “If you ever need guidance on anything related to the Guild of fighting, we’ll be here to-”

“Mistress Sunset!”

The three turned to see a short red and orange dragoness approaching. She stood about a full head taller than Sam, though she was still much thicker than most of the mares thus far. Her hips and ass were easily wide enough to nearly touch the frame of most doors, and her breasts were slightly bigger than Sam’s head. Her body was covered in red scales for most of her body, though her chin, chest, belly and fringes were all orange. She wore a dark grey robe, similar to Lyra’s, except it had a patch of Sunset’s mark on the shoulders, with red shimmering fabric trimming all of its edges. It hung somewhat open, stopping right over her hips, revealing that she wore light blue panties that matched her slit eyes.

“Mistress, I heard the commotion stop and thought something bad happened, what-” she stopped when she almost bowled over Sam, stepping back to examine the pseudo dragon. “Oh, I apologize, I didn’t know there was a new dragon here.”

“Sam, this is my sister and aide, Ashe. Ashe, this is a new adventurer, Samuel Ampill or Sam for short.

“Sam Short? I’ve never heard of a ‘Sam’ before, but it’s nice to meet you, Mr. Short,” she said, extending a hand.

He looked between the hand and her before shaking.

“I’ll let that one slide because you’re adorable,” he said.

“What? I’m not adorable, I’m a dragon!” she said, stomping. “I’m fearsome and brutal!”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t be cute, like you are now.”

Though her scales were already red, one could think that she turned a darker shade upon hearing that. Sunset and Pinkie chuckled at the display while Ashe’s tail wiggled behind her.

“As much as I’d love to continue the embarrassment of my sister, I must ask you something Samuel,” Sunset said, leaning down to him. “Your face is peculiar.”

“Well, I did have a couple of matches where I broke my jaw. And my nose. My face is basically a punching bag at my old ring,” Sam said. “But what part interests you the most?”

“The fact that you seem to have no scales. I’ve never seen a dragonling with no scales on their face. Ashe, do you know if this is common for males?”

“Um,” Ashe said before twirling her claws.

In her palm came a rune of cyan magic, a small book that looked burned appearing in her hand. She grabbed it as it fell from the dispersing light and flipped through the pages.

“I… I don’t… no, there’s nothing I can find about scaleless males,” Ashe said, dismissing the book.

“I mean, I just turned into a dragon recently,” Sam said through a mouthful of cake.

“Wait, what?” Ashe said.

She grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him close, examining his body while his grip faltered.

“Stars and sunlight, he’s telling the truth!” Ashe said.

“My cake,” Sam said solemnly, lamenting the loss that stained the floor.

“I can see faint traces of transmorphic energies wafting off of his body, along this line,” she said, tracing a claw along the dividing line between his skin and scales. “It’s barely there, but the magic is… ancient. It’s almost like looking into an old, fading spell cast in the Dark Age.”

“Truly?” Sunset said before kneeling to examine Sam’s chest. She also ran a finger over the line, her eyes widening as she looked into the magic. “It… it’s there, but like you said, only barely. This could have something to do with his disfigured face.”

“Uh… yeah, definitely,” Sam said.

“Oh! Oh! I wanna see!” Pinkie said, also putting her hand on Sam’s chest.

“Pinkie, the divide is by his neck, not his abs,” Ashe said.

“I know.”

“Hehehe! S-stop it, that tickles!” Sam said, trying to stay still.

Ashe backed away blushing as she realized what she was doing, though Sunset still kept her hand on him. Pinkie continued to tickle him, smiling as he trembled in place before the Maiden stood up.

“Well then, I suppose you’ve plenty of reason to seek a wizard,” Sunset said. “If you ever need somepony to vouch for your audience with a Wizard, you have my permission to use my name for assurance.”

“And mine too,” Pinkie said.

“Thanks. Oh, by the way, I just remembered that I was supposed to be looking for some people from a Raid Party associated with a, ‘Twilight’? You ladies wouldn’t happen to know someone like that, would you?”

Pinkie smiled as she dug her hand between her tits and pulled out a card.

“Juuuuuuust so happens we’re the mares you’re looking for!” she said, flashing her Emerald Guild Card.

Sunset smirked as she pulled out her Topaz card while Ashe showed her Emerald card.

“Huh. Well, guess that’s that, then. Welp, I’ve got to go back to see if my friends found any leads. It was nice meeting you all, hope you stay safe.”

Before he could walk away, Pinkie pulled him, Ashe and Sunset into a hug, squishing his face between her own and Ashe, causing the Dragoness to blush furiously.

“If you ever need backup, know that you’ve got friends in the three of us too!” Pinkie said.

The curl at the front of her mane bent around into the rest before digging out a flute and playing the Final Fantasy 7 victory theme.

“Haha! Nice!” Sam said, returning the hug. “Thanks again!”

With that, she let the party and Sam go, the short dragonling running off to meet up with his friends again.

Chapter 4

View Online

-Zander’s Meeting-

After separating from the group, Zander wandered the guild and just wanted to sight see for a bit. Zander couldn’t keep the smile off of his face. So far, the day has been an exciting one, but absolutely worth it. He won $300 off of Sam, he’d gotten a kick-ass wolf mode that he learned how to turn on and off at will, and he got to see plenty of tits and ass all around town. Life was looking up for him now, and nothing-

SMACK

He met the blunt of a door while a couple of mares walked out of it. They laughed as they walked away.

“Watch where you’re going, idiot!” one called as they left.

“Yeah, alright, now I’m pissed,” Zander said.

The door shut with a heavy thud, a lock sliding into place immediately. His curiosity piqued, Zander examined the entrance. It was a large, black rock with silver lining its edges and a blue ram’s skull embedded in it.

“Well, that’s not fucking creepy.”

He walked off for a moment before he heard something knock on it. Turning around, he saw the white mare from before, Rarity, with a new blue mare with a mane and tail of rainbows, large wings hanging off of her back. The mare was a bit shorter than most, though still a head over Sam, and she was thinner than Rarity with a slightly smaller chest and ass, but she had defined muscles and washboard abs that one could wash clothes on. She wore extremely little armor, only a sparse amount of steel plates on her forearms and upper shins, both sets colored dark blue and emblazoned with clouds. She wore a metal bikini top that held her impressive tits up with clouds marking them as well. A belt hung around her waist, similar in style to what Roman legionnaires would wear, though the straps making up the ensemble were far more sparse, giving him a window to see her bright red panties underneath. Two scimitars hung off her hips, one a bright cyan and the other orange, the grips topped with pony skulls.

“PASSWORD,” a voice from the door spoke.

“Open the door or I’ll spitroast you with my Reiterpallasch, Darling,” Rarity said, flipping her mane over her shoulder.

The door opened up while the blue mare was laughing. Rarity stormed inside with the blue one in tow before it closed again. Though he knew it was likely to be a bad idea, Zander wanted to know what was so special that they had a secret door like that. He walked up to the door and knocked, the goat skull moving up to reveal an eye peering down at him.

“PASSWORD,” the same voice said.

“Uh… listen, it’s been a while since I’ve been by,” Zander said, scratching his head. “I’ve been outta town and got caught up in some family stuff, you know how it goes. Isn’t there a riddle or something you can give me to jog my memory a bit?”

“UGH, FINE,” the voice said. “SERIOUSLY, YOU ADVENTURERS NEED TO LEARN TO WRITE SHIT DOWN. ALRIGHT, HERE’S THE RIDDLE; IT IS THE END OF A JOURNEY BOTH PHYSICAL AND ROMANTIC. THROUGH IT, GREAT FEASTS MAY COME AND GO, AND THOUGH IT MEANS BOTH GOOD AND BAD, IT DEPENDS ON ONE’S TASTES AND WHAT ONE TASTES.”

’What kind of fucking riddle is that!?’ Zander thought to himself. ’Seriously, it didn’t even rhyme!’

“You got another one? One that… I don’t know, makes some kind of fucking sense?”

“PASSWORD,” it said again.

“Alright, fine! I’ll leave,” Zander said, turning to go. “Fucking asshole.”

“WHAT DID YOU SAY?”

Zander stopped and slowly turned back.

“Uh… asshole?”

The door clicked and opened up.

“Good guess, guy,” another voice said on the other side.

Zander shook his head at the absurdity and walked in the door. On the other side was a massive red and white stallion with a swept back mane and a mace at his side. He wasn’t as massive as Bulk, but the sheer aura this one but off made Zander feel like a dwarf.

’So this is what it’s like being Sam.’

“Hey, you don’t look like one of our regulars?” the stallion said, eyeing Zander. “You got an ID on you?”

Zander reached behind him and pulled a chain out of his back pocket, glad he had packed it before they left with Bon Bon.

“Uh, yeah, got it right HERE!” he said with an uppercut.

The sudden attack with the chain bashed the stallion’s chin before his head slammed into the wall, knocking him out cold instantly.

“Heh, still got it,” Zander said, stuffing his improved weapon away.

By the side was a staircase that led into a deep cavernous area lit with torches.

“Huh, let’s see where this goes.” He walked down the steps, eager to see whatever was worthy of being hidden down in this place but stopped when he found another door.

“Oh come on, another door?” He said in annoyance and this one didn’t seem to have a guard at the front. In the door’s face, there was a question etched into the steel.

“‘Though I may be one way, it’s not clear which until you’ve already been snared. And though you may think they’re not your taste, you’ve already fallen for them once before. What are we’?” Zander read off of it.

“What the hell is this supposed to mean?” Zander said in annoyance. “Alright you know what, no. I’m not getting trapped in some-” The door glowed and opened up when he uttered the word, “trap”.

He was nervous but walked inside to find several other mares and a few stallions inside what looked like a tavern underneath the building. There were other rogues, thieves, scouts and other warriors alike that were either making deals or just enjoying themselves with a good drink or food inside. Zander looked above him to see a plaque that said Black City Market above him.

“Least now I know which area I’m in, but this place doesn’t look like it holds a lot of friendly faces,” he said to himself as he saw that there were a lot of ponies down here that looked like they wanted to slit someone’s throats.

“Huh, looks like a nice place,” Zander said, nodding to himself. “Reminds me of the Thief games, a bit.”

“And next time I’ll castrate you with a rusty spoon!” a mare said, throwing a knife at some stallion. She hiked up her bra while the assailant was tripped up and robbed of his gear.

From the bar, a mare walked out, completely topless, though she didn’t bother to cover herself. She walked up to the stallion who was being robbed and cut open his bags with a dagger before taking out a bikini with metal plates. She wrapped it around herself, adjusting the bikini so she was covered again before she kicked him in the face, knocking some teeth out. “That was for jumping me with your group earlier and taking all of my stuff. Not so tough without them now, are you?”

“I’ll… get you… for this… you bitch…” He groaned still in pain from the beating he got. This earned him from another kick to the face, breaking his nose in the process. He groaned in agony feeling the bones being bent out of place and the two other mares proceeded to beat him up again.

Zander chuckled as he watched the guy getting mugged, walking a bit further down the road to a set of two half-doors at the front of a bar. Before he could read the sign, two mares burst out from the doorway, laughing and hiccupping, each with a nearly empty bottle of scotch in their hands.

“Noooooohoho!” the pink and purple mare said, leaning onto her friend, “you’re the prettiest!”

“Nah mare,” the blue one with a two-toned mane said, “you’re the milf, you’re hotter by default.”

“Hey, hey, hey, look at that guy,” the purple one said, pointing at Zander. “He’s cute.”

“Yeah. Hey! Cutie, settle a bit- a bet, would ya?” the blue mare said.

“Yeah, I’m not getting involved in drunk-”

“Who’s got the better tits?” the purple one said, ripping her top open to flash him.

The blue mare followed suit, opening her bikini and shaking her tits side to side. The purple mare cheered and started jumping in place to jiggle her much larger breasts. The blue mare’s were still a nice size, though they were much perkier than her older friend’s pair.

“Yeah, look at her,” the blue mare said, “she’s got huuuuge titties, so she’s pretty hot, right?”

“No nononono, lug-look at her,” the purple one said, groping her friend. “She’s sooooo stiff, and she’s real perky. She could go for a little massage, you know.”

Before the conversation could continue, the mares started fondling each other’s chests before they started to make out, twisting their tongue together and ducking behind the building.

Zander stood there, his face hot and holding a massive smile.

“Man, this day’s just fantastic,” he said with mirth. His attention gets cut short when he hears a growl in his stomach.

“Hmm, plenty of places to eat, but I doubt they’d take USD,” he said, before eyeing a coin purse a pompous looking mare had tied to her hip.

Smiling, he walked up by her, taking a rock and a coin purse someone had left on the ground, slipping the two together before he made his move. His hand worked fluidly to untie the knot of the mare’s bag while tying the rock bag up to the same point. In only a second, he had untied the coin purse and tied the rock bag back to the mare’s hip.

He quickened his pace, careful to hide the bag from view while his hands went to work, mapping the coins out in his mind so he could count without unloading the bag. There were different shapes and sizes of the coins, but they were all metal, that much he could tell. Of the coins, there were seven heavy ones, eighteen long ones, and fifty three small ones. Though he didn’t have a metric for how much he had, he assumed it’d at least be enough for lunch and a couple supplies for the road.

Ahead, there was a shop with several bird-like creatures heckling the ponies. The nearest one to him was old, with grey fur over his cat-like body, though his head was completely bald. It was capped with a worn out fez, and he seemed to have a glass eye. Zander thought it’d pop out from how he was screaming at some mare who tripped on her way out of the shop.

“And stay out you filthy little harlot!” he screamed, throwing a broken knife at her. “Try and swindle my son into sex so you don’t have to pay thirteen bits!? I’d sooner gut myself than let him get corrupted by the likes of you! THERE’S NO HONOR AMONG THIEVES ANYMORE!”

Zander was about to pass by the shop and ignore the senile old coot, but something caught his interests. From the doorway, he could smell something delicious being freshly baked. Looking around, he didn’t see another place to eat other than the bar, but he doubted that he’d get something good there. Shrugging, he walked up to the bird-man’s store before being stopped.

“Hold it!” the old coot said, looking Zander up and down before squinting at him, eye-to-eye. “Just who n’ what are you?”

“A paying customer,” Zander said, jiggling the bag of coins.

“Hmm. Alright, good enough,” he said, stepping aside. “Name’s Gruff, but everypony calls me Grandpa. Even though I hate it. But as long as you pay up front, I don’t care.”

“Right. So, what’s that smell, Gruff?”

“I’M NOT YOUR- Oh, sorry, thought you’d call me ‘Grandpa’ or ‘Gramps’. Most youngin’s your age do that all the time. Yeah, that’s little Olive’s cooking. She bakes scones, like her mother. Seems to be the only thing that sells in this cursed little corner of the market. Seems we Griffons get bad business no matter where we set up.”

Zander hummed and walked in, seeing the place in its entirety. It was a small little hut, the inside reminding him of a shop in Skyrim. The part he walked in was filled with aisles of different kinds of junk, like random ingots, a few weapons, arrows, armor and potions, while some actually useful gear was stacked up along the wall behind a counter manned by a small blue Griffon. To his left, Zander found a rather impressive looking bakery set up, with a tiny little Griffon girl in a brown dress decorating some sweets.

“Oh, a customer! Gallus, we have a customer!” the little girl squeaked.

“Hmm? Yeah, sure,” Gallus said dismissively, barely awake. “Wake me up when he decides to buy something from the rest of the store.”

“Hmph. Well, how do you do, mister?” the little Griffon asked, batting her lashes.

“Heh, I’m alright. Just smelled some good stuff, so I wanted to buy a couple scones. How much for two and some water?”

The little Griffon squealed a bit before she took two scones and wrapped them up, dropping them into a small bag and grabbing a glass bottle filled with water.

“The scones are five bits each, and the water’s three,” she said happily.

“Why do you always get excited?” Gallus asked. “It’s the eighth sale you’ve made today.”

“I’m just so happy that I can make somepony’s day better one sale at a time!” she squeaked.

Zander couldn’t help it, his heart was melting and he had to. He reached out and pat the little Griffon’s head. He pulled his hand back and grabbed his bits before putting the bag on the counter.

“So, uh… listen, it’s been a while since I counted these, so I need some help, alright?” he said. “Hope you don’t try to swindle me out of any bits.”

“Oh no, I absolutely won’t sir!” Olive said. “Grandpa Gruff always taught us to not swindle a customer. Loyalty’s bought, after all!” she said with a smile.

Zander nodded and began to count the coins out, separating them into groups by size and weight, and now color since he could see them. The smallest ones were bronze, the long ones were silver and the heavy ones were gold. He piled them up and waited for the Griffon to count them out.

“Wow, that’s a lot of bits mister,” she said, astonished. “Well, that’s one silver and three bronze bits.”

’So silver’s ten and bronze are each one to one. Alright, what about gold?’ Zander thought to himself.

“Thanks. Say, with how much I’ve got here, what do you think I could buy from your Grandpa’s store?” Zander asked.

“Hmm… well-”

“Hey, if you’re planning on spending,” Gallus said, sitting upright, “don’t listen to her advice, she’s a pacifist and a baker! She can’t tell the difference between an enchanted rune and some sloppy carving someone put into a dull blade.”

“Hey! I tried to learn!” she said, puffing her cheeks.

“I know, but you’re still not good with it. That’s why Gruff’s been keeping me here. Besides, you’re better off as a baker anyway, you actually turn a profit.”

Gallus motioned for Zander to come over to his counter, so the human swept up all of his bits back into the bag and approached the Griffon.

“Don’t think we got your name yet,” Gallus said.

“Zander,” he said. “So, how much can I buy with this?”

“Five hundred, seventy bits,” Gallus said slowly, surprising Zander. “That’s good for most of the shelved stuff out there, but it’s enough to get you something good on Gruff’s premium rack,” he said, motioning to the weapons mounted behind him. “Enchanted arms of all kinds, enchanted armor pieces, and a couple of things that might be cursed. He said he’s not sure, since it’s been too long to remember.”

Zander looked at the weapons hung on the wall, eyeing each piece carefully. This was his first weapon in the new world, after all, and it’d be either a great boon or a burden on their journey. Looking along the bottom of the collection, his eyes rested on a knife in the right corner. It shined with a deep navy straight, serrated blade, the grip covered in genuine leather with a ring grip at the end of the handle. The whole thing was about ten inches long, the handle and blade each taking half of the length.

“How about that blue one, down there,” Zander said, pointing to it.

“Hmm?” Gallus turned to see which one he was pointing at. “Oh, the Midnight’s Edge, huh? You’ve got a good eye, Zander. Two-fifty.”

“Hey, thanks man,” Zander said, pushing the bag up to Gallus.

“Nice,” he said, picking up the bag and getting the blade down for him.

As Gallus counted the coins, Zander flipped the blade around in his hand, twirling it by the ring and passing it between his fingers while spinning. Just as he stopped spinning it, the blade seemed to flash in his hands, and he thought he could hear a word in his head.

“Well, here’s your change,” Gallus said, pushing the smaller bag back to him. “Thanks, and definitely feel free to swing around anytime.”

“There he is!” a mare said.

Zander turned to see two familiar ponies, the mare he robbed and the guard at the door he knocked out.

“Oh, shit,” Zander said.

Before a word could be uttered, Zander turned around and jumped through the nearby window. Thankfully it’d been opened already, so he wasn’t cut by any glass. He stood up and started running like a bat out of Hell.

“Get back here, you stupid freak!” the guard yelled, chasing after him.

Zander found himself in a run down temple at the end of the cavern and hid behind one of the pillars. The guard and mare ran up to the temple’s entrance before getting to one knee and signing something over their chests, muttering a prayer before they started to search for him. The guard was approaching Zander’s spot quickly, so he clenched his knife, spun it around and waited. When the hoofsteps got close enough, Zander lunged out of cover and slammed the knife into the stomach of the guard.

He screamed and backed up, clutching at the wound, only to find that Zander had just slammed the ring on the grip into him.

“Gotcha,” Zander said.

He kicked off of another pillar and slammed his knee into the guard’s face. The guard’s head bounced off of another pillar, knocking him out again. As the guard went down like a puppet with cut strings, a bolt of magic nearly seared Zander’s face off.

“I’m going to flay you alive, you little cretin!” the mare shouted, her horn blazing with magic.

Dozens of bolts shot out at Zander, scorching the pillars as he ducked between them to try and get inside the temple itself. One zipped by his head, the sudden burst of heat causing him to flail his arms to try and intercept the next shot.

When his knife met another bolt of magic, it flashed and deflected the shot. It bounced off of the navy edge and scorched the ground. Zander threw himself inside, sitting behind a pew before he processed what he saw. He smirked, knowing all he needed was one lucky hit. Considering Lady Luck was practically fellating him today, he felt prepared to strike back and stood up in the row between the pews.

“Alright, let’s do it!” he said, flipping the knife around.

The mare snarled at him before firing off another volley straight at him. He swiped his blade through the air, missing several bolts as they scorched his clothes and burst on his skin, though it felt like it barely did more than that. After a few seconds, one of his swings managed to finally hit a bolt dead-on, sending it back right at her horn.

“GAH! Mother fucker!” she screamed, clutching her head. “I’ll stew your balls and feed them to pigs!”

“Going to be a bit hard when you’re behind bars, darling.”

Zander jumped, seeing two more mares follow into the temple. The mare on the floor looked up at them and reached out.

“Ladies, please, this mongrel stole from me and assaulted a guard! We need-”

“Shove it, liar,” the rainbow maned one said. “We saw your picture go up on the Guild’s Wanted list after you took the reward for yourself. It wasn’t yours to begin with.”

“And the guard was smuggling in a Rogue Trader that’s been blacklisted so he could take a thirty percent cut,” Rarity said. “Nopony here is innocent. Especially this one,” she said, glaring at Zander.

He held his hands out, dangling the knife by his pinkie finger.

“Alright, ya got me. What now?”

Rarity walked up to him, her face reddening as she eyed him up before she swiped the bag of bits off of him. She didn’t pick his pocket, didn’t light her horn, didn’t say a word, just swiped it from him like she pulled it out of thin air.

“This belongs to the shop you just left,” she said. “An old acquaintance was to be rewarded with this, so we’ll be taking this to her family.”

“That’s fair, they’re good people,” Zander said.

The blue mare laughed as she approached before slugging Zander in the shoulder.

“Hey, relax, we’re not robbing you. You managed to help us catch this lying backstabber while we were looking for this guard here, so we’ll let the fact that you desecrated a holy place slide.”

“I did what to a what!?” he said, panicking.

“You’re not allowed to fight in a holy temple dedicated to Artemis, but considering you were being attacked, we can help rule this as self defense,” Rarity said. “Also, that was a fairly decent shot you took at her, though I’m sure you should give the knife back to them since you paid for it with their money.”

“Actually, I’ll tell ya what,” Rainbow said, reaching into her own bag, “I like this guy’s skills, so why not let him keep it?”

She pulled out a platinum chip and a gold bit, handing them to Zander.

“You go back with us and tell them the truth, and say you’d like to buy this knife for real.”

“But, if I tell them that it’s their money I used-”

“That you stole off of the original thief. Trust me, I know the family personally, they’ll think it’s hilarious. Do that, and you prove yourself a better Rogue than most.”

Rarity scoffed at the notion before walking off. “Hurry along, Darling, Twilight needs us to find those expensive meat bits for the Bugbear migration.”

“Wait, did you say ‘Twilight’?” Zander asked, following her. “As in, Twilight Sparkle?”

“You know our nerd friend?” the blue mare asked.

“Kind of? I know her name, but the Guildmaster told us that she could help my friends and I with some magic problem. You know where I can find her?”

Rarity and the blue mare exchanged a look before smiling.

“I’ll tell you what,” Rarity said. “We’re members of her Raid Party, but sadly we’re quite busy with a few quests. However, we’ll put in a good word for you to Twilight so she may help you soon after.”

“Yeah. Name’s Rainbow Dash, by the way,” she said, offering her hand.

“Zander Mathew,” he said, shaking her hand.

“Rarity Belle,” Rarity said, offering her hand.

Zander took it and kissed the back of her hand, “Always a pleasure to meet such a fine lady.”

Rarity held a hand up and giggled to herself while Rainbow gagged. The white mare winked as she walked off.

“I’ll see you later, darlings, I’m off to go bring these to Twilight.”

While she walked away, Zander leaned over to Rainbow.

“Hey, it’s the least I could do after seeing her naked before.”

“PFFFFFT!” Rainbow bit back her laughter, slapping her thighs. “Oh, oh Artemis, I can’t believe you saw that! I told her she’d flash somepony!”

“Oh man, it was a good sight, too.”

“Ah, amen to that, Zander. Amen to that.”

-Mathias’s Meeting-

Mathias split from the group to see where this Twilight girl was, and so far he wasn’t having any luck.

“I really should’ve asked that lady what she looked like,” Mathias grumbled to himself as he looked around for a Twilight Sparkle around the guild. He sighed and continued to walk around for a bit, when he hit a sign that said Arcaneum Magi on the front. “Arcanium Magi huh? Guess it’s a start.”

He thinks to himself as he remembered that some areas like this are used to create enchanted armor, weapons, potions, elixirs, and special items for raid parties. ‘Looks like a perfect place to start,’

He entered the room to see what was around and saw several mares in skimpy clothes as well as a few stallions working on charms, weapons or armors for other clients. It kind of reminded him of a few taverns you would see like world of warcraft, skyrim, or the lord of the rings.

“Man, this is just crazy,” Mathias thought as he looked at everything that was in the room. He soon stopped as all eyes were on him as he saw several mares staring at him. Some with confusion, interest or suspicion. “And now I’m the center of attention.”

“Who’s the weird male here?” A mare said as she looked at him with a mix of confusion and interest. “He’s pretty strange looking.”

“Not sure,” another mare said as she crossed her arms under her bosom as she looked at him with interest. “You think he’s single?”

“Don’t know if this guys’ a threat or not,” Another mare said as she was gripping her sword that was still in the holster on her hips. Chatter soon started to go off when Mathias realized that this might get ugly if he doesn’t say something.

‘Crap, I gotta get this heat off me,’

“Ahem, does anybody know of a powerful mage who I’ve been told works here?” He asked. Everyone just looked at him confused as he just slowly walked away thinking that he made the situation worse. It was during that time that he was walking that he didn’t pay attention to a mare that he bumped into.

“Ow, Sorry about that,”

“It’s alright, are you okay?” A mare’s voice said getting his attention. He looked up to see who it was and was surprised at how cute she was. The mare was a bright shade of purple, her mane and tail a medium shade of purple with a running streak of cyan lining through their full lengths. She stood half a foot taller than Matt, not counting the horn on her head. She wore a long, sleeveless robe, colored a bright cyan that matched the stripe in her mane, the edges of the fabric a dark purple. They hung open enough to where he could get a good eyeful of her breasts and thighs, even though they could easily reach her hooves. Speaking of, her ankles and even her wrists were wrapped up in metal bracers, colored brass with gems lining them.

“Uh, yeah I’m fine,” Mathias said as he took her hand and she helped him up. “Sorry, I got lost and didn’t look where I was going.”

“You do look new here, and I overheard you saying something about Twilight earlier,” She added with a smile. “Fraid you can’t talk to her right now.”

“Why not?”

“She’s training with Applejack after she got a new stone with her hammer to help deflect magic blasts,” She added.

“Damn, well I guess I can wait until she’s done,” Mathias said. “My name is Mathias Vanderwulf by the way.”

“Nice to meet you Mathias, My name is Starlight Glimmer,” Starlight said with a smile. “What do you need Twilight for exactly?”

“Was hoping that she could explain these medallions that me and my friends found that teleported us here,” Mathias admitted, leaving Starlight confused.

“Wait, teleported?” She asked. “As in you’re here from somewhere else?”

“Yeah, from a different world entirely,” He admitted rubbing the back of his head blushing.

“That would explain your strange appearance,” She admitted. “I just assumed you got cursed by some crazy witch or a cursed item or something.”

“Hey,” Mathias said in annoyance. “I don’t look that weird.”

“I’m just kidding,” She said with a chuckle. “I didn’t think you’d react like that. Come on, I’ll show you around.”

“Would be nice,” Mathias said as he followed her.

They passed by rows of desks littered with gems and metal ingots, a few apprentices learning to enchant on their own or watching others do so themselves. By a large window there was a chimney and fan installed above hundreds of vials and bowls, a practice area for alchemists and potion makers. Above them were balconies crowded with ponies learning to cast new spells on practice dummies, away from the more destructible equipment.

“Okay, all this is crazy,” Mathias said as he saw everything. “Since you were showing me around, what're you doing here?”

“Working on a slime proof charm after Rarity got her armor eaten… again…” Starlight groaned.

“Wait, was that the mare we saw running towards the bathroom earlier?” Mathias asked as he remembered the white unicorn mare with purple highlights running by as her armor started to melt off of her curvy body.

“Yes, it was,” Starlight groaned. “That mare can be so stubborn sometimes and she doesn’t let us try to buff her and I’m tired of having to go and buy new armor when hers get melted. So I said screw it, we’re making you a charm so we don’t have to keep going through this.”

“That sounds pretty annoying,” He added with a sigh. “Having someone not listen to you when you’re trying to help them.”

“You have no idea,” Starlight added with a sigh. “It’s all about, ‘Oh, Darling, they’re exposed and weak right now! If we wait to buff we’ll lose the element of surprise! We have to strike noOoOow’!” Starlight said, putting on a posh voice and flaunting her hips. “You wanna know how many times we lost out on our reward money because she needed a new set of armor? More than once, which, if she were any other mare, would be grounds for being kicked out! But no, she’s too good at identifying fake gems and enchanted traps, so we keep her around because she’s just that good. Honestly, I don’t dislike her, I think she’s pretty fun to be around, but Celestia damn it if I have to give up my share of the reward again because she gets caught by another slime.”

“Dang, maybe I could help you with this charm,” Mathias said with a smile. “Maybe when I watch what you do I could see what could be needed for this kinda thing.”

“Okay, we can start over there,” Starlight said pointing towards an empty work table that had a few beakers and test tubes on it.

“Reminds me of a chemistry lab back in highschool,” Mathias said as he joined Starlight. She then took what looked like a bag out from her side and poured the contents onto the table.

From the bag, she dropped a bottle of red liquid, some chips of bones, a strange leaf and an ingot of malachite.

“What’s all this for?”

“It’s how I’m going to make the charm, but I need to wait on a friend of mine to get here to where I can make it work,”

“Who’s your friend?”

“She’s a Pegasus druid in our party by the name of Fluttershy,” Starlight said. “She’s pretty shy so try not to get too close to her.”

“I know how to keep personal space,” Mathis brought up.

“Oh, there she is right now,” Starlight said as she looked up and waved behind Mathias. Mathias soon turned around and got quite a shock at who she was waving at.

The mare walking up to them was massive, easily more than a foot even above Starlight, with giant wings that gave her an even larger frame. Her fur was a soothing buttery color, while her mane and tail were flowing curtains of pink. She was easily the single bustiest female he’d ever seen, with breasts and hips large enough that she looked as though she’d never fit through anything less than double doors. Her attire barely left anything to imagine, since it was extremely miniscule and made from plants. Over her shoulders and wrapping around her arms, up to her wrists, were collections of sewn together leaves held up by vines. Her tits weren’t covered or propped by anything, her nipples just barely covered by two round leaves that were somewhat moist, though they didn’t block the markings that spiralled around them. She wore a skirt made of large palm tree leaves tied by another vine, though he could peak through them to see another leaf covering her private bits, with several more palm tree leaves wrapped around her shins up to her knees.

“Fluttershy, you’re here,” Starlight said with a smile. She walked up to her friend and hugged the mare, their chests pushing against each other.. “Glad you could make it, did you bring what I asked for?”

“Um...I didn’t have any bottles to bring with me, so no…” She admitted in a soft spoken voice. She then noticed Mathias who just couldn't find any words to speak right now. “Who’s he?”

“Oh he’s a new friend I made, and he mentioned that he has other friends who were looking for us actually,” Starlight said.

“‘Us’?” he asked. “Wait, you mean she,” he said, pointing to Fluttershy.

“Yes, she’s the best Naturalist type caster in all Equestria,” Starlight said. “If she wasn’t on the team I doubt we’d have won half of our raids.”

“Oh, Starlight, please,” Fluttershy said, fidgeting and blushing, “it’s not that important, what I do.”

“You earned two rank-ups in one day when that Goliath almost smashed its way through the Guild until you managed to not only stop it, but convince it to help fight off the Timberwolves that followed it! You’ve probably saved more lives than half the team has.”

Matthias examined the mare again, trying to process how she was one of the most important ponies here.

“So… you’re part of Twilight Sparkle’s group too?”

“Oh, do you know Twilight?” Fluttershy said, leaning over him which ended up leaving her tits hanging in his face. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t think that she would know any… I’m sorry, but what kind of creature are you?”

“Uh, human. I only know her because someone said that she could help my friends and I get back home.”

“Yeah, apparently they were teleported here by mistake and don’t know how to get back,” Starlight said.

Fluttershy gasped before Matt’s world turned to butter and the softest warmth he’d ever know. She hugged him close, squishing him into her chest while she cooed and ran her fingers through his hair.

“Oh, you poor thing,” She said. “It must be so scary to be lost like this.”

Mathias felt as if he died and went to heaven. One of the bustiest girls he even met is hugging him like crazy into her mountainous cleavage and judging by how she was, he just rolled with it.

“Anyways, Fluttershy,” Starlight said as she tapped her friend on her shoulder. “I still need this charm made so we can stop having to buy armor for Rarity, so could you come over here really quick?”

“Oh, okay,” She said as she let go of Mathias as his face was as red as a tomato. “You alright there Mathias?”

“Y...yeah… I’m fine…” He said, trying to shake himself from what happened. ‘Man any guy would lose a limb just to bone a girl like her,’ He thought to himself.

“Okay Fluttershy,” Starlight said as she pulled out what looked like a large bowl with the malachite in the center indent. “Since you don’t have a bottle to give, I’ll have to get what I need for this the old fashioned way.”

“Starlight, is that Malachite?” Fluttershy asked, looking into the bowl. “You know Rarity’s going to have a fit when you tell her to wear it.”

“I am aware she hates green, that’s why I chose it,” Starlight said. “Also since Slimes can’t digest it as fast as other minerals. Anyways, let’s get to business.”

“What exactly are you gonna do?” Mathias asked.

“Like I said, it’s something I need from Fluttershy if we’re going to get anywhere,” Starlight said. “Anyways, Fluttershy if you’d please?”

Fluttershy nodded before she put her hands on the table and leaned over it. Starlight put the bowl beneath Fluttershy’s right breast, adjusting it so that it’d be right underneath it.

’Whaaaaaaat is she doing like that?’ Mathias thought to himself, his eyes widening.

Starlight then reached over and slowly peeled the leaf off of Fluttershy’s right nipple. Mathias almost lost his mind as he watched the green pasty be stripped off of her tit, exposing the supple pink nub for the world. Drops of white liquid fell from the nipple and leaf, and Fluttershy let out a light moan while she leaned over the table a bit further, her tail flagging upwards while she rolled her hips a bit. Starlight put the leaf down and started to massage her friend’s breast, starting from the underside and slowly moving her way upwards, caressing the supple flesh and coaxing another moan from the pegasus. Milk squirted out as Starlight reached the areola, barely even grazing it while it poured out the nectar. Watching this, Mathias just stood there shocked and aroused by the casual display, though now that Fluttershy’s pasty was removed, he could see strange markings on her nipple, almost like a tattoo, and when she squirt a bit more milk out, it glowed a bright blue.

Just when the bowl was halfway filled, and the Malachite was completely submerged, Starlight released the tit and handed the leaf back to Fluttershy.

“Thanks,” she said, “this’ll make the enchanting way easier.”

“Mmf, n-no problem,” Fluttershy said, her legs a bit shaky while she leaned away from the table.

The pegasus picked up the leaf and ran her tongue over it before applying it back to her nipple again while Starlight added the other ingredients. She mixed them together on the surface of the liquid for a bit before a rune scorched the air above the bowl, staying there even after Starlight removed her hand.

“There, it should only take a few minutes instead of a few days now. Uh, something wrong, Mathias?”

“Um, no offense, but why did you do that in front of me just now?” Mathias asked in confusion. “Doesn’t anyone else find that kinda weird?”

“You’d be surprised by how many ponies have this and how useful different milk types are,” starlight said pointing towards the back of the room. Mathias turned around and was surprised at the other mares who were being milked by their partners, or milking themselves and either storing it or using it for potions or anything else in general. “Most mares only use it to help accelerate enchantments or boost potions, but Fluttershy here trained in Zebranada, where they can attune their bodies to natural powers to enhance their bodies and magic.”

“Oh, um,” Fluttershy stuttered, only now realizing she just let herself be milked in front of a male, “y-yes, the temple I studied at taught me how to harness the power through natural processes. It, um... accelerated my body’s growth hormones and lactation, and the magic flowing through my body as well.”

“Her milk’s almost eight times as effective as a unicorn’s and can help accelerate not only enchantments and potions, but summonings, healing and buffs as well. We usually have a few spare vials on hand, but the last ambush we had… Rarity was carrying them.”

“Oh, yes, that was quite scary, seeing those slimes digest my milk like that… they were almost as big as a house after that.”

“That must’ve been a pain in the ass,” Mathias said with a sigh. “Hopefully this will teach her the hard way to not be so stubborn about buffs like that.”

“I hope, but I have my doubts. She didn’t learn after the Spider cavern, I doubt she’d learn from this. Oh, by the way, if you hear something that sounds like a filly laughing with a harmonica in her throat, do yourself a favor and burn everything to the ground.”

“Okay then,” Mathias said with a nervous glance. “Anyways, what’d you need her milk for?”

“It’s for the charm I’m making. Normally it’d take a few hours to craft something with a ward against magical creatures, but with Fluttershy’s milk marinating it, the process will go much faster.”

“Huh. Yeah, no, don’t think I’d be able to do that,” Mathias said.

“I mean, yeah, that’s why we kinda have her on the team,” Starlight laughed. “Pretty sure males don’t lactate. Actually if you do, you should probably see a doctor.”

“No! No, I mean I can’t imagine asking someone to… do that, for a potion. And I doubt I’d willingly drink a healing potion knowing that that’s what’s involved in making one.”

“Well, not all potions are made this way,” Fluttershy said. “Some of the more expensive high-quality potions are kept in aging cellars and caskets to let the brews stir naturally. Though they are quite hard to stomach, since they taste really bad. Enchanting it with milk helps accelerate the process of both magically distilling the healing powers of the herbs and the effects of the potion.”

“Not to mention that it does taste pretty good,” Starlight said, winking to Mathias.

“Yeah, but… i-if someone was forced to… you know, take from the source… wouldn’t that be, uh, a bit, how do I put this. Rapey?”

Fluttershy clasped a hand over her mouth while Starlight grabbed Mathias by the shoulders and dragged him closer.

“Don’t use that word here!” she hissed. “That word is a curse that invokes the ancient powers of Cosmos herself! Even implying the term gives her power!”

Mathias leaned back while trying to keep his face from Starlight’s, though that was hard since she pressed her nose to his.

“Fluttershy, say a prayer, quick!”

Fluttershy nodded before she started to make hand gestures, trails of magic lining the air where her fingers passed while she spoke in some strange language. The air grew cold, and Matt thought he heard a mirthful laugh echoing in his head before the warmth returned.

“There. I’ve warded him for a moment,” she said.

“Good,” Starlight said, letting Mathias go.

“What the hell was that for? What did I do wrong?” Mathias asked in confusion as he wasn’t sure what was going on or why it was happening. It also didn’t help that all eyes were on him again as everyone looked at him with fear and confusion.

“You just can’t go around throwing cursed words like that around in public,” Starlight brought up.“Last thing we need is a rupture torn open by one of They who Thirst summoned by some newbie. Look, I get it if you’re uncomfortable with the whole potion thing, but no one’s forcing you to drink one right now and the only mares who make potions are ones willing and wanting to. The magic turns everything sour and poisonous if the milk is extracted against the mare’s will. A couple of warlocks learned that the hard way, once.”

“What happened to them after that?”

“They ended up poisoning a town’s hospital and were sentenced to fifty years in a desolated prison after the fouled magic almost phased in a Daemonic entity. It became the reason why the Genesis Conventions were put into practice for any mares who wanted a license to medically donate their milk,” Fluttershy said.

“Geez, that sounds pretty messed up,” Mathias added. “Anyways, sorry about earlier. I just wasn’t aware of it that’s all.”

“Well now you know,” Starlight added.

Suddenly, the bowl of milk flashed, drawing their attention. Starlight reached in and pulled out the Malachite slime charm. It was engraved with some spirals and an image of a blob in the center with a large “X” running through it.

“There,” Starlight said. “All done. Now we just need to wash out the bowl.”

“I think I can learn more about this place, but I should be careful around who I meet,”

“Right. Now, if you- wOAH!”

Starlight’s hands tipped at some point, spilling some of the bowl’s contents on the floor. She started slipping when she walked over the wet spot, and seeing the mare start to tumble, Matt reached out to help her.

“Hold on, I got-”

He reached for the bowl but when she fell forward, his hand went straight into her robes and she fell on top of him. They tumbled to the floor, Starlight covering herself with the remnants of the ritual and Mathias now shoving his whole arm into her robes. The two groaned before Mathias realized what was in his hand, a perk little nub that was wet with the potion. Looking up, he saw that his arm and Starlight’s fall had resulted in him suddenly ripping her top open, with one of her tits in his hand with her nipple between his fingers.

Starlight looked down at him, blushed and screamed while her horn lit up with three arcane runes. A loud pop filled the air with light, and suddenly she was gone.

“Whoops,” Mathias said in embarrassment when he realized what he just did. “Sorry about your friend Fluttershy. Uh, think it’s too much to ask that she doesn’t kill me in the future?”

“It’s okay, I know you didn’t mean to do that,” She said as she picked up the charm and placed it in her satchel. “Plus I think when she calms down, she’ll forgive you.”

“Thanks,” He said with a smile. “Anyways, I think I need to look up who these goddesses are so I can be careful not to be bothered by them again.”

“Good idea,” She said as she was walking away. “If you go by the trainer’s school you can look them up, just be careful not to speak their names.”

“Okay,” Fluttershy finally left, leaving Mathias in the Arcanium Magi room. “I should probably get back to the guys now. I got quite a story to tell after all this.”

chapter 5

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-Guild Entrance-

“Man, this is one crazy way to run a guild,” Mike said to himself as he got back to the guild entrance as he waited for his friends to meet up with him. While he was waiting though, several of the mares at the guild gathered around the building towards the board near the receptionist's desk as she was placing papers on the board that was next to the desk. ‘What’s going on there?’

Mathias walked through a large crowd gathered around a set of boards, squeezing his way through to get to Mike.

“Hey Mike,” Matt said. “You holding up alright?”

“Yo guys!” Zander called from across the room, walking up to the two. “Dudes, check this out, I got my first weapon here!” he said, pulling out Midnight’s Edge.

“What!? How’d you even get tha- you stole it, didn’t you?” Mathias said, leveling a glare at Zander.

“What? No, I bought it. Totally legit, man.”

“With what money.”

“I just saw some chick robbing these guys and managed to stop her. They gave me money as a reward, I used it to buy the knife. It deflects magic!” Zander said, twirling it on his fingers.

“Oh hey guys, how’s everyone?” Sam asked, making his way to the group with a mug in his hand.

“Apparently Zander bought a- wait, where’d you get that?” Mathias asked, pointing to the ale.

“This? Everyone in the Feasting Hall was having a naked party so I had some cake and brought this. How’d your guys’ search go? Oh, right, I didn’t find Twilight, by the way. I just found someone who knows her.”

“Same here, only caught some of her friends on my way out,” Zander said, flipping the knife around.

“Whoa, that’s sweet! Did you buy that with the cash you won off me?” Sam said.

“Nope, something else. How about you, Matt?”

“Ugh… No, I didn’t find Twilight, I just… saw some girl get milked. Then her friend fell over and, I may have accidentally groped her,” Matthias said, blushing profusely.

“Hey, a couple mares flashed me when I went to the shop, so it looks like we all got some good sights today, right Mike?” Zander said.

“Yeah, I got harassed and attacked by some dickheads who I beat into the dirt,” Mike said.

“Oh shit, you too?” Zander asked, sheathing the knife.

“Yeah, they were idiots. But, I did find Twilight Sparkle.”

“Dude, that’s awesome!” Matt said. “We can go home! Where is she?”

“Uh, she said she can’t help us.”

Mathias’ smile turned into a raging glare. “What!? The fuck was the point of this then!?”

“Calm down! She said that a friend of hers might be able to help in a few days, so we’re not out of options yet.”

“Oh,” Mathias said, taking a deep breath. “Alright, good. Just a few days, got it. What are we supposed to do until then?”

“Well she also mentioned something about the adventurer school that might know something about not only the portal, but the amulets that brought us here.” Mike brought up.

“Oh, fuck off with school, seriously?” Zander said, banging the back of his head against the wall. “We literally go to a fantasy world of busty amazons and we’ve still got to go to school?”

“Like it or not, we gotta go there if we’re gonna try and figure out how we got stuck here,” Mike added.

“So there’s a Lambdass attacking in the district?”

The guys turned around to see two pegasi, the twins that Sam had run into before, reading a piece of parchment they’d taken from the board.

“Apparently, and the nearby homes are getting torn apart and made into its den,” the other twin said.

“Jeez, well somepony’s gotta stop it, then. Wanna see if we can buy some rain clouds from the Cloud District?”

“Sure, we don’t really go there a lot anyway. It’ll be nice to visit the folks.”

“All the way in Hollow Peaks?” another mare said to her group of four. “How did a Ragkna make it there?”

“Does it matter? Look at the reward!” the wizard in a red dress said.

“A Duosia sighting needs to be evaluated in a small settlement South of here,” another mare said to her group.

Groups of mares and stallions started rattling off more monster sightings and random tasks around the guys, talking about rewards and chores of varying difficulties. The group of ponies moved out of the way as Mayor Mare approached with a pile of parchments in her arms. She started posting them on the board in various spots that were emptied out, mostly along the bottom, the number of papers becoming more scarce as they moved up on the board.

“So what’s going on here?” Mike asked, watching the room.

When Mayor Mare finished putting the papers up, she saw the guys and walked over to their group.

“Hello boys, everything alright?” she asked.

“Well, we found Twilight Sparkle, but we’re going to have to wait until some lady called ‘Sunstone’ can help us instead,” Mike said.

“Huh. Well, in that case I imagine you boys would like something to pass the time. Unfortunately, I’m afraid I can’t sign off on any quest you’d take until you all earn your licenses.”

“Wait, quests?” Mike asked.

Mayor Mare nodded.

“Every day around this time, we compile lists of quests submitted by Town Hall, as well as any files brought in personally by Ponies in need. We let them put up jobs of almost any kind, so long as they can pay the Guild itself for the space on the board. Anypony can choose any mission, though we do have a rating system in place to determine the difficulty a quest may be associated with, such as certain areas or monsters you could end up facing. In fact, some of the top-rated ones are reserved for a certain Raid Party, since they seem to be the only ones who can complete them without grievous injury and with everypony returning alive and not cursed.”

“Jesus, that sounds intense if only one effing party can keep up with those,” Zander said.

“Exactly,” She followed up. “Though we also have goblins to deal with, hardly any adventurers do those with how weak they are. But there is that one stallion who goes out of his way to accept those… ah, I’m sure it doesn’t matter.”

“Well that sounds-”

“Again,” the Mayor interrupted Zander, “I can’t sign you off on any of those since you need a license. If you want to go on to getting them, you’d need to get to the Adventurer’s School down the road.”

The crowd near the board was silenced as a group of mares walked up to it. The guys turned to see familiar mares that they’d each met already all in a party together. At the front and center was Twilight Sparkle, who reached up and took a parchment from the very top of the board. She nodded to her group and opened a swirling vortex of magic. As they walked through, some of the girls noticed Mike’s group and waved at them before walking through the thing and leaving.

“Hey, I met a couple of those girls,” Zander said. “They were pretty cool.”

“Yeah, I recognized the… yellow one,” Mathias said.

“Dude, nice! She’s freakin’ huge!” Zander said. “But damn, so was the pink one.”

“You mean Pinkie?” Sam asked. “Yeah, she was pretty fun to hang around with. Wish I could have hung out a bit longer.”

“Wait, did we all meet members of Twilight’s group? That’s weirdly convenient,” Mike said.

“You’re telling me,” Zander replied with a sigh.

“So you each met members of the strongest team in Equestria?” Mayor Mare said, making the guys turn to her in surprise.

“Wait, they're the strongest team?” Mike asked in shock. “I beat up two asshole earlier just to get them off of Twilight and Applejack’s backs.”

“I saw both Fluttershy and Starlight topless a few minutes ago,” Matthias added.

“I met Rarity and RD and helped them with a couple thugs earlier,” Zander added. “Even let me buy this crazy dagger.”

“There was a sweet party going on in the Feasting hall and Pinkie gave me some cake,” Sam said before taking a swig of his ale.

“I guess you can consider yourselves lucky that they’re laid back, otherwise you would’ve had your fannies kicked across Equestria,” She joked. “Those girls know how to hold their own.”

“So you said that they're the strongest raiding party right?” Mike asked.

“That’s right, they usually handle the most dangerous of missions that most of the other parties can’t, that’s why they’re the Raid party.” She added with a smile. “If you boys want to be as strong of adventurers as they are, why not check out the Adventurer’s school here?”

“Believe it or not, that’s actually where we were planning on going,” Mike brought up. “One of them mentioned earlier about how we could learn about the medallions we found.

“God, do we really have to go back to school?” Zander asked.

“Shouldn’t we discuss this?” Mathias asked. “I mean, going to classes even though we’re hopefully only going to be here for a few days?”

“We’re discussing it now, aren’t we?” Sam said. “And I’m for it! Let’s get learned!” he said, slamming the empty mug onto the table.

“Okay, the building you’re looking for is outside, down the road to the old outpost.”

The Mayor walked the guys to the door before she pointed at the large stone building down the way.

“That’s the school,” she said. “Hard to believe you missed it.”

“Well, we were led here by Lyra and Bon Bon, so we were more focused on finding Twilight than that place,” Zander said.

“Guess we should go now,” Mike said.

“You boys take care then,” Mayor Mare said, waving at them. “And if you ever need a hand… well, I’m sure I’ll have something I can lend fine young studs like yourselves,” she said, winking before walking back, sashaying her hips.

“Not gonna lie, I’d smash her,” Zander said.

“Dude! She’s been nothing but kind to us, why would you do that!?” Sam said.

Zander shook his head and started walking off to the school, the rest of the guys following. More adventurers were loitering the area around the Guild, a few walking off to another building on another path.

“Whoa, what is that place?” Mike said, pointing at a building.

The building they saw looked as if it were taken out from Candyland itself, with gingerbread walls, icing along the edges and candy decorations along its surfaces. Many ponies were walking in and out of the building, and the aroma it gave off was intensely sweet.

“The hell is that place?” Zander asked.

“Either Diabetes in physical form or a Slaaneshi pub. Either way, we’re going in later,” Sam said.

“Guys, I see the school,” Mathias said.

The building in question looked like an old fortress, built on a slab of stone and lined with two-story walls, three spires visible from where they were. The stones were faded and worn from age, though the roofing was freshly redone and painted a multitude of colors, like lavender, white, orange, cyan, pink and yellow in repeating tiles. The gate was wide open, and peering into the mechanisms one could see the spiderwebs and dust, showing that it’d stayed open for quite a long time. Past the gate was a large courtyard, several training dummies and racks of fake armor and wooden weapons were lined up by the farthest wall. Some stone walls were knocked down to make for more open doors and hallways, with actual windows being placed along the upper levels. Overall, it was clear that this place was ancient, but they’d taken care to renovate what they could and reformed this bastion of war into a school.

“Wow, it looks old, but it looks like they know how to take care of it,” Zander followed up. “Wonder what it’s like on the inside?”

“Looks like the place hasn’t seen much action aside from… whatever they’re doing now. They don’t even have lookouts in the towers. Guess we really landed in a good starting town, huh?”

“Yeah,”Mathias added. “So you think they may have some info on those amulets we found?”

“Hopefully,” Mike followed up. “We’ll need to check out the building first.”

The group walked through the courtyard, watching younger ponies whacking dummies and sparring, a few stares lingering on them only for a few moments while they walked through. The courtyard itself was quite large, with a large ring in the center, about the size of a tennis court filled out with loose dirt, with weapon racks stacked up against the far walls. Some ponies were fighting in it at the moment, though the guys didn’t pay attention to that. A sign pointed to the nearby set of double doors that read, “Head Instructor”, which they followed at every turn. One of the colts and a filly training approached the group.

“Are these new monsters?” One of them asked in confusion. “They look kinda weird.”

“No way, one of ‘ems a dragon, kinda, so they can’t be, otherwise it would have eaten ‘em! They’re some kinda minotaur hybrids!”

“Hey,” Zander said in annoyance.

“Easy man, they’re just kids,” Mathias followed up.

“Yeah, they’re just as interested in learning about us as we are about… well, everything else here!”

The rest of the students began to gather causing a female teacher to show up asking, “What’s going on, what are you all crowding around?”

A tall mare strut forth, wearing a long, thin gray robe with a tall witch’s hat. Her robe split open by her shoulders, reaching a V down to her navel revealing a canyon of cleavage of her impressive G-size magenta bust. Around her waist was a series of golden bands, engraved with smiling faces that accentuated her wide hips. The dress’ skirt reached all the way to her hooves, though she wore fishnet stockings that were wracked with holes and tears. Her mane hung down over her shoulders, running with two tones, pink and violet. Her eyes stared down at the group, pale green eyes widening in curiosity.

“Okay, this is pretty awkward,” Mike said, rubbing the back of his head. The guys were about to move when they suddenly felt themselves locked in place. “The fuck?” Mike said as he looked down to see that a rune circle appeared below them. Before they could even ask what was going on, they felt themselves surrounded in a large bubble that slowly rose and covered them. The bubble then slowly lifted them up, keeping the bubble above the ground. The guys looked at the pink mare, and her look of curiosity was gone and was replaced with a more serious tone.

“Who are you boys?” She asked, still keeping her serious look.

“Oh, I got this!” Sam said. “Hello there! I’m Sam, this is Mike, Mathias and Zander!”

“Keep her distracted, I got this,” Zander whispered, drawing his knife.

Zander pressed the knife into the bubble before Mike grabbed him by the wrist.

“Dude, you realize that’ll only make us look worse, right?” Mike hissed.

“I don’t care, dude she trapped us in a fucking bubble before she even said hi to us!”

“Just let me handle this!” Mike growled as he looked at his friend with a serious face. He then trunks back to the rather busty teacher, and calms down. “Anyways, we don’t really mean any harm to anyone here.”

“Mind stating your business then?” She asked, with a calm tone, but kept her serious look.

“Mayor Mare said you’d be able to help us,” Mike replied with a sigh. “We just walked here and we didn’t know you were having class.”

“I see,” she said, calming down and her smile returned. “Why didn’t you say so sooner?”

“You trapped us in a fucking bubble before we could explain ya crazy broad,” Zander said.

Her smile dropped instantly as she popped the bubble, dropping the guys on the ground.

“Keep it up, see where that gets the lot of you,” she said, crossing her arms. “Anyways, sorry about earlier, one can never be too careful especially since I have to look after the entire school to help new adventurers get ready for the real world.”

“Understandable,” Mike said with a sigh. “It’s no wonder you acted the way you did.”

“Why thank you,” She said and her smile returned. “Anyways, if we’re going to continue this civilly, let’s take this inside, and I’m sure we can discuss this in a manner that benefits all parties. My name is Headmistress Cheerilee by the way, the headmaster of the school.”

“No problem,” Sam said with a smile. “Nice spell, by the way.”

“Thank you,” She said before turning to all of her students. “Continue your training until I get back everyone.”

The students nod and return to their training and Cheeilee turns back to the boys. “Follow me to my office everyone.”

-Cheerilee’s Office-

“Here we are boys, my office,” Cheerilee said as she opened the door to her office.

Inside was a large room, nearly the size of their garage, filled to the brim with magical nomenclature. The walls on the sides were lined with bookshelves filled with ancient tomes, the windows were all opened to let in a nice breeze, and her redwood desk was in front of a circular table with five stools around it. There were some other tables in the corners of the room, covered in potions and ingots, with glowing runes etched into them.

“Woah, this is almost the size of our garage,” Mathias said with a shock look on his face. “Look at all this.”

Cheerilee snapped her fingers and a vortex of magic summoned a tray, filled with a plate of cookies and a teapot with five cups on it.

“Please, have a seat,” she said with a smile as she took her seat and used her magic to pour the tea in each cup. Each of the guys took a seat and she used mer magic to hand each of them a cup. “So, is there any reason why you were sent here?”

“It’s a long story, and it may be hard for you to believe us,” Mike said as he took a sip of his tea. He tasted sweet honey and berries were mixed in the tea, giving it a very sweet flavor. Mixed with a heat it seemed to dance in his tongue.

“Hon, considering I came across creatures I know nothing about, and how we deal with different adventures on a daily basis in this world, nothing is impossible,” she said ,taking a sip of her tea. “So try me.”

“Okay, but like we said it’s a long story,” Mike said as he began to tell her everything. Each of the guys helped fill in the gaps as well ranging from the medallions, to the teleportation, meeting the strongest adventurers and even trying to find a way home, if it’s even possible.

“So let me get this straight,” She added, taking another sip of her tea. “You boys say that you’re from another world, you found mystical medallions that represent a demon, a phoenix, a wolf, and a dragon, one of them is cracked, you found a spell that teleported you here, and you have no idea how to get back home?”

“Yeah,” Mike said.

“Right,” Zander added.

“Uh huh,” Mathias added.

“That is, word for word, what we told you, yes.” Samuel added.

“Hmm. I need to test something,” she said, standing up, her large breasts jiggling from the momentum. “Could you each show me your medallions?”

“Uh would if we could,” Mike replied with a nervous smile while rubbing the back of his head. “They kinda merged with our bodies when we got here,”

“Interesting.” She turned to the book shel, snapped her finger, and a book flew out from one of the shelves, its pages flipping rapidly before she started reading a select passage. “Very well, show me where.”

Mathias took off his shirt and showed off the Phoenix on his back, Zander held his head up to show off the Wolf on his neck, Mike held out his hand to show off the Demon, and Sam tapped his chest to point to the Dragon.

“I see, so these medallions merged with… why is yours missing part of the Dragon?” Cheerilee said, pointing to Sam.

“Hey, it was broken when it showed up, blame the FedEx guy,” Sam said. “Part of it probably melted into the floor. Oh crap, I’m gonna have to clean that up when we get back.”

“Hmm. Well, this isn’t exactly the first time this has happened, though it’s been long enough that the memory of it’s not exactly common knowledge.”

Cheerilee snapped her fingers, shutting the blinds and drawing the room into darkness before a crystal ball rose from the ground, hovering as it glowed with moving images of other medallions, similar to the ones they found.

“What is this?” Mike asked.

“The Gods of this world bargain and gamble with Gods of many others, often the reason why we see such various species across our lands. Some gambles bring fortune, like Hippogriffs and Zebras, and others bring trouble, like the monsters of the Everlost. Eventually, a Great Game was decided upon, one where an outer-realm’s God would be allowed to throw their own into the mix while another God riles the dark forces of our own world, sometimes even mixing in their own. Unfortunately, one of the rules is that true warriors, born and raised for combat, are not allowed to be summoned, so they pick warriors at random to see if they can make it with the Blessings of the Guardian Lords. Once picked, the warriors would be brought to our land to fight and protect it. If they succeed and defeat the evil before the Advent Eclipse, then we’re saved. If not… the old Prophets of Yvraine and Ynneal say that we’d be ripped from this world and they’d simply start anew.”

“So your asshole Gods made it so that everyone could get killed because a bunch of gambling idiots want to see what some bumbling morons could get when they’re thrown into a random fantasy world?” Zander asked.

“... yes. Our Gods are… not bright,” Cheerilee said, rubbing her temples.

“So what, we just kill whatever freak is causing a problem and we get to go home?” Mike asked. “Does anybody else know about this stuff?”

“As I said, this is an old story that has faded into legend, so not many ponies know about it but a select few.”

“Well that’s just fun,” Zander followed up. “So what are we supposed to do?”

“I… have no idea. Usually there’s some horrible event that happens BEFORE the warriors are supposed to show up, but… we haven’t seen anything like that yet. Usually it’s some king of the Underworld, some kind of cosmic horror or a cult of super weirdos trying to mind-frick everypony but… so far we haven’t really seen anything.” Cheerilee said. “Although… there is the Summer Sun Celebration happening in a few days, maybe something cataclysmic will happen there.”

“So we just stick around and wait for something terrible to happen? Well, given the present company it should only take us a few hours.” Samuel said. “Got anything we can do to pass the time? Maybe we could catch a class or two while we’re here. This is a school, so why don’t we learn something?”

“Hmm, I suppose there’s no harm in spectating some of our top students while I have my assistant discuss this matter with a contact of mine,” she said, a scroll being coded with strange text. “In the meantime, they’ll be taking care of something for us.”

“Okay,” Mike said.

“Anyways, why don’t we continue the tour of the school?” She said with a smile, opening the door in the process. “If you boys are gonna be stuck here, we can continue the tour of the school since Mayor Mare gave you permission to look around.”

She guided the four through the main building, starting with the top floor where the students would learn about alchemy and enchantments, as they were among the most important for adventurers to learn. On the second floor were the classes dedicated to more practical skills, such as cooking, smithing and monster anatomy. On the bottom floor were the classes dedicated to learning combat and practicing. When they were done, Cheerilee led them back outside to the main courtyard.

“So what do you boys think of the school so far?”

“Pretty festive to say the least,” Zander said with a sigh. “But why did we stop here?”

“I figured I let you boys meet my top five students,” she said pointing towards the center of the courtyard where a crowd of students gathered.

Cheerilee walked forward and clapped, getting the attention of everyone in the courtyard. The students all turned and made way for the Headmistress and the guys, though the fighting in the ring didn’t stop. As they approached, the guys managed to get a good look at the five mares in a free for all in the ring.

One student was yellow with a red mane and tail, a tight white crop-top wrapping around her chest with tight blue shorts clinging to her waist, a massive axe in her hands.

Another was stark white with a two-toned pink and purple mane and tail, dressed similarly to Cheerilee, though her robes were a bright cyan and her hat was replaced with a wreath of red leaves. In her hands twirled a mage’s staff, a white branch vibrant with arcane might.

The third was a slim orange pegasus, wearing a tight green one-piece with a cape and skirt made of dried leaves and framed with twigs. In her hands were two daggers, one a fiery orange and the other an icy blue. When she clashed them, a burst of steam shot across the arena.

The next was a pink mare with a two-toned white and pink mane, a silver tiara resting upon her head. She was clad in a white dress, with fingerless elbow-length gloves and was making signs with her hands, summoning random weapons and throwing them at the others, though when they missed they disappeared.

The last one was a grey mare with a silver mane and tail, wearing a pink dress with no skirt, though she was wearing tightly clad thigh-high stockings lined with rings and grooves mounted with blades close to her hooves. She also wore a pair of glasses with a band keeping them on her head.

“Whoa, that’s intense,” Zander said, watching the fight.

“Yeah it is!” Sam said. “I’m rooting for the silver one.”

“Who are those ponies?” Mike asked.

“Our top students. With the axe, we have Apple Bloom, sister to Applejack. She packs quite the punch, even without the family heirlooms. Sweetie Belle, the unicorn, proficient in illusions and sister to Rarity Belle, one of the School’s top funders. Scootaloo, the pegasus, with ambitions high as the sky. She was tutored by Rainbow Dash in CQC and it certainly shows. Diamond Tiara, the Earth Pony with the white dress, is daughter to one of the town’s wealthiest families, who also hold a share on the school’s funding, excels in weapon summoning and smithing. Lastly, we have Silver Spoon, another heir to the wealthier part of the town’s upper class but she’s proved herself to be just as deadly up close as even Apple Bloom. Overall, their backgrounds and performance have led them into a five-way tie for Valedictorian for their class.”

“Okay… so, hypothetically, where would we be grouped up if we were to start at this school? Just out of curiosity,” Mathias said

“Well, considering you have no reputation, credits or certifiable achievements, you’d be starting at the same level as… young Button Mash over there,” she said, pointing to a small brown colt with a spinner hat, intently watching the girls in the arena.

“And that level would be…” Mike said.

“Level minus-one. You’d be starting out learning the pre-basics before we can even evaluate your current abilities. Essentially, we’d have to teach you about stuff most ponies would learn at the age of three or five.”

The group stayed silent, jaws dropped at the thought of being put in a preschool level class.

“Are you serious!?” Zander said. “So we’d have to take a class meant for actual literal children, and have to take basic courses to get our licenses?”

“I already beat up two Bronze Rank adventurers at the Guild,” Mike said. “Both at the same time!”

“That’s impressive, but just because you beat two fully licensed adventurers doesn’t mean you know proper first-aid alchemy or how to fix a broken sword,” Cheerilee said. “Not to mention that being good in a fight doesn’t exactly equate to understanding the Principles of Magical nature of our world, nor does it help you understand the intricacies of trade and Guild systems.”

Unbeknownst to the guys, the fighting in the ring stopped as the girls fighting noticed their conversation.

“Who do you think they are?” Applebloom asked as she held her axe over her shoulder. “Ah’ve never seen them before in mah life.”

“Note sure,” Sweetie Belle said with a sigh. “They don’t look threatening though.”

“Yeah, I heard Cheerilee trapped them in a bubble or something,” Scootaloo said, putting her daggers away.

“They look pretty down. Maybe they got some bad news,” Sweetie Belle said.

“I think the one with the weird arm said something about beating a couple of Adventurers?” Scootaloo said.

“Huh, maybe they’re lookin’ ta get their licenses like us?” Apple Bloom said.

“If that’s the case,” Silver Spoon said, “then maybe they need some help finishing their requirements. Why don’t we spar with them? It would help get them the credit for physical performance and it’d look good on our parts to help lower-ranked students.”

“Good thinking, Silver,” Diamond Tiara said. “Not to mention that it’ll be good to practice against somepony who isn’t one of us. It can be a learning experience for both groups involved.”

“Good idea,” Sweetie Belle added as she and the girls walked over to the group.

Meanwhile, the boys sighed in defeat knowing that there was no way out of this and turned about to find the girls that were fighting were now approaching them.

“Hey,” Apple Bloom said, approaching Sam, “we heard y’all were in a bit o’ trouble, so why don’t we help show ya the ropes?” she said, patting him on the back.

She hit him with enough force to send him to the ground face-first, Sam coughing and hacking as he laid there.

“Geez, Sam you okay?” Mathias asked as he and his friends were worried about him.

“Ah! Oh, that’s what lung tastes like,” Sam said, struggling to breathe.

Apple Bloom blushed as she quickly took off her gloves.

“AB, you really need to be careful, you’re gonna kill somepony like that,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Hehe, sorry,” She said with a smile while blushing.

“Dang sam, you alright?” Zander asked, trying to help him up.

“No, but I’ll pretend I’m fine.”

“You guys only solidified that you need our help,” Diamond followed up with a sigh. “We’ll give you an hour or two to prepare yourselves.”

“Prepare ourselves, for what?” Mathias asked in confusion.

“Well, I suppose we can start with Evaluations, then. Get the humiliations out of the way early so you can focus on your studies.”

“What do you mean?” Mike asked.

“Oh, you know, new adventurers come into town, challenge the top-rated students and then get beaten into the dirt so badly we have to pick up what’s left of their pride with a spatula. Let’s get this out of the way early so we can document your weaknesses and move on to properly training you four.”

“Whoa whoa whoa! We’re not ‘challenging’ anyone here! We’re lost and just asked what’s going on! We didn’t have a choice where we woke up this morning, why do we get to be humiliated!” Said Mathias.

“Plus the only reason I fought those guys was to make them back off from harassing two mares I met, and I didn’t even know who they were!”

“I apologize, I’m a bit too used to seeing the former scenario happen all too often. At least you lot seem to be somewhat level-headed, not what one would expect from a new band of adventurers. You didn’t deserve that, and I’m sorry.”

“Eh, it’s alright. We’ve had worse assumptions levied against us. Friggin’ Dean and the landlords still never paid for the damages,” Samuel muttered.

“Well, good luck to you boys,” Cherilee said as she saw them out. The group leaves and she returns to her office.

\\\\\\//////

She walks back in her office and sighs to herself as she walks towards what looked like a family photo. In the picture was her, another mare holding two babies and a red stallion wielding a greatsword.

“Better pay these two a visit later,” She said with a smile. “I need to be there for them, especially if the Gamble is upon us.”

A note appeared in the air above her desk and floated down. Cheerilee reached towards it and it floated up to her, unfurling as she read its contents.

“Hmm… alright, I’ll see if I can fill in some gaps. Hopefully those four will have what they need by the end of the Summer Sun Celebration.”

\\\\\\//////

“Well, how do we ‘prepare’ for these Evaluations?” Mike asked.

“I have no idea,” Mathias said. “Maybe we can ask some of the students or something?”

“Let’s ask around,” Zander added. “Who do you think- Sam?”

They found that Sam had already walked off and was talking to the brown colt with the spinner hat. He was wearing simply chainmail armor and looked pretty meek compared to some of the other students they saw, standing only an inch taller than Sam.

“Alright, well we’ll let you show us around then,” Sam said, waving the rest of the guys down. “Hey! Button Mash over here’s gonna show us around town!”

“Dude, that’s not what we’re focusing on,” Mike said.

“I know, but we’re going to need to know where we can get weapons and armor if we’re going to actually be ready for a fight, and he knows where everything is since he’s done plenty of shopping with his mom.”

“Can you not say that part out loud!?” Button hissed, blushing as he looked around. “I don’t want ponies to think of me as just a mommy’s colt!”

“Nothing wrong with having a loving mother,” Sam said, waving Button’s concerns off. “Now, we’ve only got an hour or two, so let’s get going!”

“Ah, alright, sure,” Button said.

“Aaaad-venture!” Sam said, pumping his fist into the air.

“We’re screwed,” Zander said.

Chapter 6

View Online

Deep in the heart of an inhospitable desert was a city of ebony, a tower sailing through the bleak sky as a dark beacon of paradise. This city was the Changeling Kingdom, a testament to the durability of the apex creatures’ legacy. A city of shapeshifters and emotivores, the Changelings were renowned as the greatest spies, rogues, supporters and paramours in the world.

Being a city of shapeshifters who feed on emotions, they pride themselves on their ability to empathize with any being they come across, and have dedicated themselves to being the world’s leaders in cognitive studies and emotional healing. While they prefer to keep a friendly relationship with all of their allies, they’ve chosen to seclude their home for the safety of their dwindling numbers.

At the head of the Changeling’s great endeavor was Queen Chrysalis, a Changeling Queen who promised to usher in an era of not just safety for the Changelings, but an era of love one day as well. Due to the current climates of the World Council, however, her plans were dialed back somewhat as the threat of some ominous force looms on the horizon.

“Ugh, Ponies and their stupidly vague prophecies,” she remarked, lying back on her tanning bed.

The Queen herself laid across a large stone balcony, her nine-foot tall body taking up nearly the entire space. Her carapace was a light peach, with orange fur cascading around her collarbone, hanging over her K-cup breasts. Her midriff was encased in a ridged chitin, lime-green in its sheen as it wrapped around her supple curves. She splayed her massive purple moth-like wings as she laid there, soaking in the sunlight while she brushed her luscious green mane, a large peach horn protruding through it.

“Honestly, why can’t they just write warnings like normal creatures? ‘Oh, there’s going to be a demonic skorpion that erupts a volcano in three hundred years, bring a staff with Rubies in it’. ‘We’re going to be attacked by a great wood beast that represents vengeance of the forest, plant trees everywhere so it can’t attack the village’. I mean, seriously, how hard is it to just write something down?” Chrysalis rambled. “What do you think, daughter?”

Turning to another body laying next to her, Chrysalis eyed her daughter, Mesosoma. The Princess was green for most of her body, save for her belly and chest, with three diamond-like beads embedded into her collarbone. Her eyes were a solid purple, and though her main horn was quite short, she had two pincer-like antlers on either side of her head. Though she wasn’t as shapely as her mother, she was still quite supple, about six and a half feet tall with I-cups.

“Oh, I don’t know, mom,” she said, twiddling her fingers. “I like the mystery it gives the situation.”

“But how many must suffer while Spirits knows who tries to figure out what to do?” Chrysalis asked, her sky-blue eyes narrowing on her daughter. “If you’re to take my place one day as heir, you need to know the difference between fitting in with the other leaders and actually doing something worthwhile for your subjects.”

Mesosoma sighed as she laid back once more, sunbathing next to her mother while they laid there quietly.

“My Queen!” a drone screamed.

It shocked both Chrysalis and Mesosoma out of their quiet time to turn to a male drone who was at first worried, and he is now shocked seeing the curvy bodies of both royal mares in front of him.

“KYAA!!” Mesosoma screamed covering her chest. “PERVERT!!” she said, running inside.

“Would you care to explain why you would interrupt our sunbathing time?” she asked, standing up. Her chest bouncing slightly with each step she took.

“A-a thousand apologies, my royals!” he said, turning away. “T-there’s been-”

“Look me in the eye while speaking to me!” Chrysalis said.

“Right!” he said, turning around to almost face-plant into her chest. “Um-”

“Eyes. Up.”

“Yes!” he said, face flushed. “T-there’s been some kind of… I-I don’t know how to describe it, your majesty, but there are Ponies invading near the North Gate, and they… they’re, stripping down and having sex with everyone.”

“... are you making this up because you think you can get lucky in this situation?” Chrysalis hissed. “I’ll humor you and give you a chance at the next Blood Bowl, should you survive the tournament.”

“NO! No, my Queen, there is a large cloud of purple mist rolling over the mountains! See!?” he said pointing over the balcony.

Chrysalis pushed the drone aside and gasped as she looked out over the city. The drone’s report of a purple haze was accurate, as the cloud was rolling close to the North Gate. She rushed inside, past her bed where Mesosoma was hiding beneath the covers, and charged into her personal armory. She donned a black loincloth, white stockings and gloves and armored them with Silver plates, wrapping her breasts before clamping on her silver-plated bra and crown.

“Stay with Princess Mesosoma and escort her to find both Princess Trachea and Princess Ocellus,” Chrysalis said, pushing the drone inside. “Make sure they and the rest of the city are escorted out the South Gate and make for the Macintosh Hills.”

“My Queen, we’re abandoning the city?” the drone asked.

“Only until either I or one of my soldiers can tell you it’s safe. Now, take care of her.”

With that, the Queen flew off the balcony, leaving the drone with the still naked Mesosoma.

“Uh… I’ll just wait outside,” he said nervously.

“Please do.”

\\\\\\//////

“What is this?” She said to herself as she saw first hand what was going on. Queen Chrysalis stares down the blackened crystal towers at her city’s borders, gripping her magical whip in both hands. Not only that, but several of her changelings were no longer their multi-colored selves but rather their chitin was more of a black and green chitan covering them, and doing a multitude of strange acts. Stripping out of their clothes, worshiping the crystals and some chanting strange remarks as well as drawing runes she never seen before. Staring at the crystals that were surrounding the borders of her city, she cursed the one Queen she knew that could cast such magic.

“This has to be Umbra’s doing, but to go this far?” She thought to herself as she walked forward. “Damn it, I thought we were allies in this struggle!”

As she was walking forward, there were some changelings who were resisting the mist's effects as they were running away. They were being escorted by a few guards that were still mentally stable and have yet to go lust crazy. They spotted their queen and bowed their heads seeing her.

“Report,” She demanded stopping to assess the situation.

“My… m-my Queen,” the guard said, panting. “The situation is… dire. The mist, it’s turned everyone crazy! They’re stipping down, worshipping the crystals, and singing strange tunes, I… I can’t help but-”

“Stay focused!” she said, grabbing him by the collar. “You need to-”

She stopped as she heard the street beneath her crack. A pillar of black crystal shot from the ground, flooding the area with more of the purple mist. The few Guards that were aware enough managed to fly away in time, though a few were caught in it, coughing and moaning as they writhed on the ground.

“Take whatever civilians you can find and run!” she screamed at the drone in her hands before throwing him.

The pillar of crystal split open, a large erotic shape of a mare strutting out of it.

“Hello, dear Chrysalis,” a familiar mare said.

Queen Chrysalis gaped as she saw Queen Umbra emerge from the crystal, though the mare had changed drastically since they last met. Her eyes had been changed from a lively blue to a harsh red with slits, and instead of the skimpy armor the Queen was known for, she wore what looked like a harem dancer’s outfit, though the solid bits were made of dark purple crystals while the drapes were made of condensed mist, giving her an ethereal air. The outfit hid no part of her anatomy, the bits over her nipples hollowed out to let the black nubs free while the mist over her hips didn’t even try to cover her moist pussy.

Umbra approached with a bouncy strut, licking her lips and fangs as she eyed the Queen of Changelings like a seven-course meal at a buffet.

Growling, Chrysalis twisted her wrist and cracked her whip at the Shadow Queen, a shot which was intercepted and blocked by a tentacle formed from the purple mist.

“You dare to come into my kingdom and attack my Changelings like this!? If you don’t retreat now and pay for whatever damage you’ve already done, I’ll-”

Umbra’s shadow mixed with the mist as she rocketed up to the Queen of Changelings. Before Chrysalis could react, the mist bound her wrists above her head as Umbra’s body became physical. The Changeling Queen gasped as Umbra pushed her icy cold hands up her silver bra, groping the Changeling as the mist that held her penetrated her chitin with an intense heat.

“Would you truly deny this from your subjects?” Umbra spoke, her voice a melody in Chrysalis’ ears. “To think you’d campaign for love and open relationships amongst your people… yet, you’d fight this?” she said, pinching her nipples. “You would be wise to not deny The King his gift.”

“G-gift? What… what do you mean? What King?” Chrysalis asked.

Umbra simply smiled and pulled Chrysalis into a kiss. Despite her predicament, Chrysalis was compelled to open her mouth and rolled her tongue against Umbra’s own, the Queen dancing in each other’s mouths. As they made out, Chrysalis’ eyes widened when she felt a surge of magic pour from Umbra’s tongue, the spicy taste shocking the Changeling out of her lust.

Her horn glowed as she bat her wings, blasting Umbra with a wave of concussive force while she cleared the air around her. Queen Chrysalis was left panting as Umbra chuckled.

“My my, and you were so fast to get into it. It seems we’ll have to wring that fight out of you before you accept the gift.”

Chrysalis could easily guess what she meant, seeing as she was shaking visibly and her pussy was already dripping.

The kiss had poured in some kind of magic, she knew, as she could feel the world start spinning around her, all sense of direction fading away as all focus went to Umbra’s erotic outfit.

Everything about her, the rings that held ribbons beneath her nipples, to the bands around her wrists and ankles, even the little mini-mini skirt that couldn’t even reach halfway to her crotch, the world seemed to focus purely on Umbra’s sexual presence.

Chrysalis stretched her whip out in both hands before flying into the air.

Her whip cracked at the mist, forcing Umbra to return to her Shadow form as magic pelted the purple haze. It was a battle of pure willpower for the Queen to still scream and defy the encroaching mist, her subjects all partaking in intercourse around her. She fired every spell she could think of, cracked at every tentacle that approached her, but the battle was already lost the moment the Queens had kissed.

Her movements were sluggish, and already she was panting from the overflowing desire that drenched her nethers, the spells she was casting losing power as her magic reserves dwindled. Whenever she’d turn to try and fight back against a different approach, a tendril from the mist would whip out, striking her armor and stripping her down. Her breasts were exposed now, and every time she tried to retaliate, the mist snagged on and crawled up her legs, dragging her down into the darkness below.

With a mighty cry, she swung as hard as she could, only for Umbra to catch the whip in her hands. The Swarm Queen desperately struggled to pry the whip out of the Crystal Queen’s grasp, but she was too focused on the weapon to notice the mist seizing her legs. It rolled up past her thighs and separated into tentacles around her waist before licking up the length of her pussy’s lips and prodding her ass.

The Changeling Queen cried out as she came, the mist producing more tendrils to grasp her as her body stopped fighting the surge of lust. Her senses soon followed the crash of her body as she was pulled into the dark mist, the world dulling as she felt a warm embrace like never before.

The mist caressed her body sensually, the warmth of the ancient magic tracing across her hips and breasts as her areolas were lined with crystals that poured out more mist, cascading her body in the purple haze.

As she moaned, a familiar tongue entered her maw, Umbra returned to continue their passionate make-out session. The Queens embraced each other, Umbra reaching down past the new skirt that had formed along Chrysalis’ hips, and grasped the Changeling’s supple cheeks. She pulled them apart, granting the tentacles access.

Chrysalis screamed as her mind was overwhelmed, the mystic power of the fog claiming her while Umbra straddled the Changeling’s ridged midsection.

Chrysalis could only huff and pant as she was given a thorough treatment, and with Umbra on her lap, she was given an equally stunning show, as the Shadow Queen’s tits bounced in her face, small droplets of milk dripping out with every jiggle.

Chrysalis’ tongue slowly approached the gem-wrapped nipple, slowly circling around the areola before Umbra leaned forward, groping herself to squirt her milk straight into the queen’s mouth.

As Chrysalis suckled it down, the magic in the milk washed through her, causing her body to change as well.

Her glossy peach carapace started darkening with every gulp, the darker spots on her body changing at a different pace, leaving bright spots instead. The crest of fur darkened and thinned out, leaving only a small patch of green fuzz above her chest. Her own breasts swelled and her nipples poked out farther the slightest bit, sloshing with milk as the magic started enchanting her mammaries. Her thighs and ass started to expand as well, and she started to thrust herself onto the tentacles as she lost herself to the rhythmic fucking. Her mane’s green sheen darkened to a greenish hue, her eyes darkening as her pupils dilated into slits. The Queen’s fangs elongated as she greedily suckled harder on Umbra’s breasts, the Shadow Queen moaning as she summoned a few more tentacles.

Umbra was also penetrated as she cradled her arms around Chrysalis’ head, the darkness of the mist encompassing the two as a deep chuckle reverbed through the immaterium.

As the Queens climaxed, The crystals that held their enhanced erotic parts glowed, and the mist carried them into the void, leaving the crystal towers to grow and cast their shadows over the Changelings, who slowly fell to the corruptive lust.

“So, how do you feel?” Umbra giggled as she hugged the changeling's ass.

“I feel… great…” she panted.

“Good, the master is going to be so pleased when he sees you,” She added, giving her bosom a nice squeeze, letting milk dribble from her nipples. “He should be arriving soon.”

“Master?” she asked in confusion. Soon as she asked that question, a stranger dark mist appeared behind her. His eyes opened and the dark red slits eyed his new playmate.

“So this is the Changeling Queen you’ve been on about?” He said with a dark grin.

“Yes, Master,” Umbra said, moaning as the mist groped and milked her tits. “I told you she’d be even more beautiful with a new look.”

“Indeed. She will serve us well, as shall her kind. Shapeshifters, oh if only you’d been there when I was first alive. The things I could have done… well, best to make up for lost time. Where are the rest of your kind going, my dear?”

“M-Macintoooosh Hills, master,” Chrysalis said, the words bumbling in her mouth as her legs were spread out, the mist ravaging her once more.

“Hmm. We’ll deal with that later, once I’ve a few more pawns to use. In the meantime, those Crystals won’t power themselves. Your Changelings will do me great work, I can assure you. And not just in servicing my needs. I’ve got some old acquaintances to invite soon.”

“Like who?’ Umbra asked.

“Oh, you’ll know in due time, my dear. In due time.” He smiled as the mist surrounded the kingdom with only a few of the citizens escaping the city.

\\\\\\//////

In the far North, past the frozen wastes near Yakyakistan, a raging blizzard tore the world asunder. It was a storm of hateful spirits and wailing apparitions, eternally damned to bring ruin where they could. These spirits were trapped, however, as the only city they could dare to curse was not blasted by the frozen fires of their wrath, but was instead a beautiful oasis in a sea of misery.

The Crystal Empire, a shining beacon among the frozen wastes, sat in the middle of a giant expanse of land that was once ravaged by the snowy spectres from older times. Instead of a mass of death and cold, however, the Empire sat on a lush sea of green fields and flowers, the land flourishing under its own Aurora Borealis in the eye of an eternal storm.

The Empire’s buildings were as beautiful as its citizens, gleaming spires of crystals dotting the city-state like immaculate watchtowers. Everything about this place shined with pure happiness and love, from the towering spire that was the Crystal Castle to the citizens themselves, their fur shining like mirrors like the rest of the city. As they went about their day, they were thankful for the couple that saved the Empire from its terrifying storm. The Princess Brides, Gleaming Shield and Mi Amore Cadenza.

In the highest peak of the Crystal Castle, the two Princesses celebrated the annual occasion in their own way.

“Ah,” Cadance sighed, reclining into the bath, “this is the life, Gleam.”

“I’d say so too,” Gleaming Shield said, propping herself on the rim of the tub.

The former Guard Captain pressed a rune on the side of the tub, the crystal bath glowing as jets of bubbles started shooting out of the walls.

“Oh!” Cadance gasped, sitting upright. “Careful with those! I felt that one go right up my cooter!”

“Pfft! Cooter!?” Gleaming chuckled. “What are you, thirteen?”

“Oh, give me a break. Just because I decided to marry the Captain of the Guard doesn’t mean I’m going to allow everypony to start cursing like some rowdy colts.”

“Could have fooled me. You swore like a cursed sailor last night.”

“Only because you wouldn’t actually let me finish,” Cadance said, rubbing her breasts. “I swear, you learned from a fish how to eat a mare out.”

“Well, if that’s the case, why don’t you teach me better?” Gleaming said, sitting on the rim of the bath and spreading her legs.

Cadance blushed at the sheer audacity of her wife, just propositioning her for sex minutes after they’ve woken up. Still, the look of the white mare sitting there, her two-toned blue mane drifting over her shoulders as she groped her own HH-cup breasts was too good a sight to pass up.

“Fine. But you better start actually learning,” she said, swimming up to her beloved.

Cadance started by kissing Gleaming’s pussy, gently pressing her lips to her wife’s other set before she started putting some more force and passion into it. Gleaming gripped the side of the tub as she moaned. She grinded against her wife’s mouth, which Cadance took as a challenge. She pressed harder, slipping some tongue into her kisses as she brought her hands out of the water, caressing the inner parts of Gleaming’s thighs, kneading them as best she could. They were almost rock solid, with very little fat to give way to the Princess’ fingers, but Cadance loved it. She let her tongue roll out over her wife’s entrance, flicking the little nub of her clit before-

“Princesses!” a female Guard shouted, barging in.

“GAH!”

The two Princesses were shocked by the sudden entrance, Gleaming falling into the water while Cadance dove in. The two stayed submerged for a moment before surfacing again, trying to regain their composure.

“AHEM! Yes, what!?” Gleaming said, angry at the Guard.

“Did I come in at a bad time?” The Guard said blushing madly.

“Yes,” both mares said.

“I apologize, but there are urgent matters to attend to that require your attention, Princesses!”

“What is it?” Cadence asked as she tried to stretch her limbs.

“Well, when you asked us to look into the Disappearance of Chrysalis when she went missing a few days ago, I believe we may have found her.,” She brought up making both mares look at her in surprise.

“You found her?” They both said in unison.

“We have,” The guard said, standing in attention. “Some of our scouts say that they saw a strange mist appearing over the horizon and saw what looked like Chrysalis walking into a cave with Queen Umbra of the shadowlands. We also found one of her drones that was injured and is a survivor of the kingdom that went missing a few days ago.”

“Her and Umbra?” Gleaming said. “I mean, I knew they were in talks, but to think they’d just… disappear for a few days like that.”

“And approaching our Empire to boot?” Cadance said, standing from the bath. “It was bad enough when that bitch of a Queen, Umbra, tried to claim the Empire as a branch of hers, but now she thinks she can just barge in here with an uninvited guest as well? Unacceptable. We’re going to fix this at once.”

With that, Cadance barged out of the bath, grabbing a towel and drying herself off.

“Wow, that mare is pissed,” the Guard said.

“Yeah,” Gleaming said, getting out of the bath as well. “Her and Umbra aren’t exactly on good terms right now. Especially since she… may have tried to get us to be her subordinates and treated Cadance like a maid when we first met.”

“Seriously!?”

“Yeah, she even put Cadance in a maid outfit and everything.”

“Wow, I can see why she’s pissed.”

“Oh, don’t think for a second you’re off the hook either,” Gleaming said, wrapping her towel around the Guard and pulling her close. “You interrupted my wife and I during a very intimate moment. Expect to do some cleaning when we come back.”

“Uh… t-the sexy kind, with my tongue?” she said hopefully.

“No. No sexy anything, you’ll be scraping the sewers beneath the palace for a week.”

“Oh… oh, shit.”

“Indeed.”

\\\\\\//////

“I can’t believe this could be happening,” Gleaming said.

The two Princesses were followed by a troupe of Crystal Guards, heading the two lines of five themselves.

Princess Cadance stood at an impressive seven feet and two inches, her pink fur immaculate and her three-toned mane and tail swirling with purple, pink and gold. As an alicorn, she stood tall with both a long pink horn and impressive pink wings. The armor she wore was quite revealing, as it fit well with her nature as the Avatar of Love. Her legs were encased in buttery gold stockings that stopped halfway up her thick thighs, ending in white frills that showed off the stockings underneath. She wore matching gauntlets, the armor stopping just short of her shoulders to allow her room to maneuver. Her II-cup chest was held up by a shelf bra with a massive gap between her breasts, and over her crotch was a dainty thong that only barely covered her lower lips, held on by two strings of gold. She carried a shortsword and shield, the pommel of the sword adorned with a heart-shaped ruby, her shield in the shape of a heart, and her entire ensemble arranged with heart rubies as well.

Gleaming Shield wore a nearly identical ensemble, though her armor was colored a deep purple and the heart rubies were replaced with normal sapphires.

“We don’t have time for disbelief,” Cadance said, stepping over a large boulder, “we need answers. The only way we’re getting those is by confronting Chrysalis or Umbra themselves.”

“But we should hold until we know for certain that we can take them,” Gleaming insisted. “If we wait for Princess Celestia or Princess Luna, we could overwhelm them then. As we are now, we have no clue of their numbers or their powers, not to mention we have no idea what’s possessing them either.”

“I know, but we risk them sneaking into the Empire and spreading whatever Corruption the Changeling survivor was talking about. If we let them sit here and consolidate their forces, they’ll have enough time to formulate a plan to attack us while we’re sitting there. It’s better to root the problem now before it can become a tragedy.”

“Princess, I don’t want to let you put yourself in harm’s way.”

Cadance stopped and turned back to get nose-to-nose with Gleaming.

“I should say the same about you, Princess. I don’t like the idea of losing you here either, but we both know that we’re not just gonna walk away from this.”

Gleaming smiled.

“You’re right. And I love you for it.”

“I know,” Cadance said, returning to their march with a smile on her face.

The troupe carried on until they found a split in the path. Either tunnel was filled with the sounds of a mare laughing in the distance, so Cadance and Gleaming had to make a tough call.

“This feels like a trap,” Gleaming said. “We need to turn back.”

“I know, but we can’t just let them get away. If we force our way through, knowing it’s a trap, we might be able to tough it out.”

“I know we read a lot of those comics together, but Candy, it’s not that simple. Walking into a trap knowing it’s a trap doesn’t miraculously make everything easy, it just makes you look stupid.”

“Well, guess who’s to blame for this then,” Cadance said, booping her wife. “See you on the other side. Shield-Host! Move up!”

With that, the Princesses split up and made their way through the caves with their own group of Guards behind them. Cadance led the search group deep into the cave path that she took, keeping the light of her horn active while traveling deep into the cave.

“Okay everypony, stay together for now,” She told her five guards. “If we find another split path, we split up into groups of two or three.”

“Yes Ma’am.” They all said as they continued to follow her, unaware of the several pairs of green eyes looking back at them. Unaware to even Cadance, her five guards were being picked off one by one, being dragged into the shadows.

“Spotter, I need the squad to prime Cat’s Eyes,” Cadance said. She waited a few seconds before she realized she didn’t hear anypony behind her. “Spotter?”

When she turned around, she saw that her entire entourage was gone. She felt her panic spike, her heart rate jumping as she pressed herself against the wall, shield ready and sword at her side. She used her own spell to see in the darkness of the caverns, and saw nothing. There weren’t any gaps in the walls, no holes in the ceiling above her, only a thin layer of purple mist along the ground.

She pressed forwards, determined to find at least one of her Guards. If they were already taken this far in, it’d be foolish to turn back into what could be a trap she had somehow avoided already.

As she approached the mouth of a large opening, she could hear something odd. It sounded like wet slaps and moaning. When she walked in she kept her shield up as she surveyed the cave. Walking further in, she could smell the dense aroma of musk and cum. It was rich and fresh, and the scent tunnelled through the mare’s brain, igniting something deep within the Avatar of Love.

Her legs shook a bit, and when she stepped forward, she found her Guards.

The Crystal Guards were all stripped bare, their armor and weapons tossed into a corner while they were busy either fucking or being fucked. A mare was sandwiched between two Changeling stallions, one in her mouth and one in her ass as they roughly thrust into her, one squeezing her tits while the other groped her ass. Two mares were grinding against Changeling mares, their pussies drenching the floor while another pair of mares were 69-ing with one another. A stallion from the Crystal Guard was sandwiched between a Changeling stallion from behind and a Changeling mare in front of him, a bisexual sandwich that left the stallion in the middle a dumbfounded mess. The last mare from the group was being eaten out by a Changeling mare while the Guard herself was fellating a Changeling stallion, gulping down his cock while fondling his sack.

The Changelings themselves were quite different from what she remembered of them, their hides looking as though they were all burnt black and their wings severely shortened.

“What- what is going on in here!?” Cadance shouted, charging her magic through her sword and shield.

She whipped her shield arm out, a disc ejecting from the shield as she spun, intent on hitting one of the Changelings. It was smacked out of the air by a whip.

“Quite rude to interrupt such passionate love making, isn’t it, oh Avatar of Love?”

Cadance turned to see what the Scouts reported to be Queen Chrysalis, though if Cadance were honest, it would be easy to mistake her for anything else. The Queen she knew before was darkened like the other Changelings, her mane once as bouncy as her tits now a rat’s nest, and her chitin blemished with patches of discolored flesh. Her hips were lined with a beaded string with white diamonds, wisps of purple smoke creating a tiny skirt of mist that didn’t cover her private bits in the slightest. On her tits were rings of white diamonds, the crystal rings only lining the edges of her areolas and trailing a curtain of mist. What little that could be called an outfit didn’t cover anything, and only served to curtain the Queen in light that accentuated her erotic form.

“Ch-chrysalis, what happened to you?” Cadance asked, shocked and confused.

“Oh, just someone I met helped me see the real me,” she said in a lust filled tone, the sounds of her whip cracking in the air. “And I was just helping our new king gather more followers after he took most of my empire for his own.”

“What did you do to your Changelings? What did you do to my Guards!?” Cadance screamed.

“Calm down, Princess. We merely offered them a veritable feast of lust and fulfillment, and they gave themselves freely. Honestly, with how much you tote about free love and open relationships, you’re quite hostile.”

“This… this isn’t love! It’s lust!”

“A bridge is a bridge, and both lead to creatures spending a lifetime together with one another. Is what we’re doing here really so bad?” Chrysalis added, groping her huge melons. “I just regret not using my perkiness my assets afforded me now.”

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing!” Cadance shouted. “You’re literally the mare that taught me ages ago the difference between the two! We spent months, months discussing the finer things in a relationship that differentiate what a loving relationship is versus a lust-fueled one!”

“Ponies change, dear Cadance,” Chrysalis said, coiling her whip. “And as a Changeling, I’m entitled to that too. Maybe you just need some help seeing the truth.”

The whip in the Queen’s hands cracked as it split the air between them, Cadance watching as it swung away with her thong following closely behind. The Avatar of Love clenched her thighs together as she backed up, her pussy quivering as adrenaline course through her. She took a battle-ready stance, and charged her weapons.

“I don’t know what’s happened to you or who this, ‘King’ you spoke of is, but I will stop you,” Cadance chanted, readying her sword and shield.

She circled around the Queen, keeping her shield up and eyes forward as the Queen wiggled her hips with every arcing step she took, winking at Cadance.

“I think it’s time we demonstrated our King’s kindness,” she said, snapping her fingers.

Cadance looked around to see Changelings pulling out purple crystals, all of them a deep shade of purple. Some were hiding them as dildos while a few kept them on the ground. Before she could warn her Guards, the crystals were pressed to their necks, forming bands around them. Their eyes all hazed over into a purple haze as they all came.

Before she could act, Cadance was again assaulted by Chrysalis’ whip, her bicep’s guard ripped off from the strike.

“Best pay attention to your partner, dear, lest they feel left out.”

Cadance played defensive while Chrysalis merely kept the distance between them with her whip. Every few strikes, Cadance would manage to block the whip, but it came at a cost. Every time she failed to block or dodge, she was stripped another piece. It all started to coalesse in her head, the musk in the air, the sex all around her, the Queen’s erotic presence and the purple mist she breathed in all started to get Cadance going downstairs. Her thighs were dripping wet with arousal now, and she couldn’t afford to keep her eyes off of the Queen, lest she be taken here and now.

Cadance took the initiative, spreading her wings and soaring through the air to try and get an advantage over the Queen of Changelings, but it proved useless as the Queen spread her own wings and flew back. The Avatar of Love charged through the air, trying to land a swing on anything other than the Queen’s whip.

Despite the years of training under her metaphorical belt, Cadance was no match for the corrupted Queen. Whenever she’d find an opportunity to get a good hit in, the purple mist intercepted the blade and tripped her up. At one point, she thought she could feel it crawling up her leg.

With only her leggings left, she put her body behind one particular thrust, which proved to be her undoing as Chrysalis weaved around her strike, leaving her whip in the air and tied it around Cadance’s sword. The Swarm Queen flew around to try and tangle Cadance up in her whip, but she managed to only tie up the shield.

Chrysalis pulled back on her whip hard enough to wrench the weapons from Cadance’s grip. As she spun about, she smacked the weapons into the wall and bashed her elbow into Cadance’s back. She cried out in pain as her wings gave out, leaving her on the ground, exposed.

“Sorry dear, but you know what they say,” Chrysalis said as she licked her lips. “Love hurts.”

Cadance yelped as she felt a pair of hands grab at her ass, prying her open as her captors laughed lewdly. At either side was a Changeling mare, holding her arms down as their purple crystals bound her to the ground. She heard someone land behind her before a warm, wet presence made itself known to her rear. Chrysalis’ tongue slithered around her ass hole, slathering her behind in spit as the Queen chuckled.

She couldn’t stop the moans that rattled her throat, pressing her face into the dirt as the Changeling Queen kneaded her ass apart while devouring her backside. She could feel the long and slimy appendage entering her ass, making the Angel of love squirm in ecstasy.

“CADANCE!”

The Princess looked up to see the tunnel filled with Gleaming Shield and her troupe of Guards. In that instant, Cadance knew what would happen if she let her fight, and ignited her horn. A blast of magic shot up from her horn and blasted a stalactite, dropping it into the opening as the Guards pulled Gleaming back.

“Cadance, no!”

“Run Gleaming, ru-Uuuaaaa~” she screamed, trying to warn her wife before she fell to the carnal pleasures ravaging her senses.

Cadance could only let her ass be devoured as she rocked along the dirt, the Queen’s tongue digging in inch after inch before she pulled out.

“Aw, now why did you go and do that?”

“To...to… keep her… away… from you…”

“Oh, such a shame. You’ll regret not having her join us soon enough, though.”

Cadance could feel something else, something cold and ridged being pressed against her anus once more. She looked back to see one of those purple crystals, now shaped like a horsecock, being guided into her backdoor thanks to Chrysalis’ tongue. She could feel the warm appendage spreading her just a bit and wriggling to guide the phallic object in before the Queen withdrew.

A few ropes of magic aligned themselves with Chrysalis’ belt of beads, a magical tentacle reaching out from the crystal to anchor itself into the Queen’s pussy. She let out a moan as the dildo was locked in place above Chrysalis’ snatch, the tentacle matching the warmth and pulse of Cadance’s ass. She slowly withdrew the dildo and slid it back in, joining her hips with the Avatar of Love as they rocked together.

As far as her day had been planned, Cadance was expecting to be pegged by the end of it, though not by Chrysalis. She cried as she felt her body become complacent with the motions of the Queen, her hips rolling back against her own accord. Cadance shivered and moaned as she felt her ass being hammered and stretched out.

While the two rulers were fucking, the Changelings that bound Cadance pulled out a bag, each of them taking a jar out and putting it on the ground in front of the pink Alicorn. They started making out with each other, holding each other close as they embraced before the one on Cadance’s left started to grope the one on the right. She started playing with her nipples and soon, they broke their kiss.

Milk squirted into the jar as the Changelings began milking each other, filling them up to the brim with the corrupted magical liquid before they got up and started passing them around. The milk jars were given to the ponies, chugging the enchanted drinks as they started loving each other once more.

Cadance realized what a shame it was that her wife wasn’t here, since now she’d have to guzzle the milk without her.

Chapter 7

View Online

The guys alongside Button Mash left the school, following the amatuer down the road. The town was emptying out as adventurers were leaving on their missions, a few even waving to Button as they left.

“Stay safe, little guy!” one of the mares called as she flew off.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” he said, grumbling to himself.

The guys shared a look between one another before Mike approached the colt.

“Uh, hey man, you alright?” Mike asked.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m just… ugh, I’m so sick of everypony treating me like I’m some useless little punk,” he said with frustration.

“You want to try and talk about it?” Mathias asked. “It might make you feel better if you had someone to talk to.”

“We can try Sugarcube Corner,” Button Mash said pointing towards the gingerbread building.

“That was the building we walked past when we were with Lyra and Bon Bon earlier,” Zander added.

“Oh, so that’s what the place is called?” Sam said. “So what’s in there anyways?”

“It’s a bakery… they sell, you know, baked goods. Like pies, and cakes?”

“We know what a bakery is, but we’ve never seen a bakery that looks like a freaking Gingerbread house,” Mike said with a dull stare. “Not to mention they don’t look like this back home.”

“Your world must be pretty dull then,” Button Mash said in confusion. “How can you tell what's a bakery then?”

“They have signs on the building to let us know what story they are,” Mathias added. “Some of them have wacky and catchy names.”

“Yeah but names aren’t worth much when you can’t tell the stores apart without the signs. Plus, come on!” Sam said, motioning his arms to the store. “Look at it! It’s a literal gingerbread house!”

“Can we just fucking eat, already?” Zander said.

“Uh, sure, but I don’t have that much money on me, so you guys will have to start a tab,” Button said.

“Wait, the bakery takes tabs?” Mathias asked. “Why?”

“Since it’s right next to the Guild, Mr. or Mrs. Cake can just report on whoever doesn’t pay and they’ll get their reward money confiscated. Adventurers are their main customers.”

“Pay the sugar mafia on time, got it,” Sam said, walking to the door. “Now, let’s get-”

The doors opened as a large mare stumbled out, carrying a stack of boxes. Due to her back being turned as she exited the building, she couldn’t see Sam as she turned around. The two ran into each other and the mare dropped her boxes.

“Whoa!”

She fell on top of him, Sam’s hands trying to catch her as she fell, only for one of his clawed appendages to go up her brown shirt, ripping the buttons open. The two landed on the ground, Sam on his back with his hands holding her up by her stomach and left breast, the other one bouncing out and slapping him in the face while the mare landed one hand on his face.

“Eeek! I’m so sorry, little guy!” she said, sitting up.

As she sat up, her hoof slipped on a rock and she fell forward, her skirt hiking up as she landed ass-first on his face.

“Oh my gosh, not again!” the grey and blonde mare cried.

She unfurled her wings and flapped them to get off of Sam, who laid there completely still.

“I’m so sorry about that,” she said, fixing her shirt’s buttons. “I just don’t know how this keeps happening!”

The mare was about six and a half feet tall, her body covered in light grey fur, her mane and tail smooth, long and blonde. She wore a skimpy post office worker’s outfit with a brown miniskirt and a messenger bag by her hip. Her eyes were crossed, though the guys could tell that she was sincerely sorry about what happened.

“Nah, it’s fine,” Sam said, standing up. “Sorry about the shirt, though.”

“Oh, it’s fine, the buttons are magnetic,” she said, snapping them open and accidentally flashing the guys. “The Post Office can’t keep paying for new buttons so they gave me a special shirt. I guess I should have watched where I was going.”

“It’s alright, I shouldn’t have rushed in blindly like that. Name’s Sam, by the way,” he said, offering her his hand.

“Oh! I’m Derpy!” she said shaking his hand with both of hers. “Though most ponies call me Muffins since I mostly snack on them so often. What’s a colt like you wandering alone?”

“I’m not alone, I’ve got these guys with me!” he said, pointing to the group.

“Oh, a whole team of colts! And little Button Mash, oh how’ve you been?” she said, flying over the colt.

“I’m fine, Ms. Doo,” he sighed.

“Well, I hope you boys can take care of yourselves. I’ve got to get back to work.”

She started picking up her dropped boxes, Sam grabbing a few to hand back to her. When she got them all, she flew off and waved her farewells to them.

“Damn man, got lucky there for a second,” Zander said, nudging Sam with his elbow.

“Lucky?” Sam asked, raising an eyebrow. “Dude, she sat on my face.”

“What’s so bad about that?”

“I could smell things you shouldn’t.”

“UGH!” Zander recoiled. “Yeah, nevermind.”

“Can we PLEASE move on from Ms. Doo!?” Button screamed. “I don’t want to hear about my Godmother’s ass being smelly!”

“Godmother?” Mike asked.

“Yes, she and my mom were Adventurers together at one point and so she’s my Godmother, let’s just go inside and eat, alright!?”

“Okay, sheesh, no need to be rude about it,” Mike said.

The five walked inside, finding the place with only a few patrons here and there, townsfolk in plain attire dotting some of the many tables and booths the store had inside. The inside did have a candy theme to it, and the guys looked around to see that there were some tables that looked like they were made of chocolate, the stools looking like they were made of candy canes and the cushions being gumdrops. Not to mention the walls being like candy.

“What is this, a candy house?” Mike asked in shock.

“You get used to it,” Button Mash said as he sat down. “Anyways, let’s find a table.”

The guys followed Button to a booth, where they sat down with Zander, Mike and Mathias on one end and Sam and Button on the other side. When they sat down, they noticed a piece of parchment hanging on the wall above the table, listing off the various foods they were offering. From cupcakes and muffins to egg sandwiches and even full on breakfast platters.

“Some menu they’ve got here,” Mathias said, scanning the paper.

“Oh, I’m definitely getting some egg and cheese wraps,” Zander said.

“I’d take an egg-cellent platter,” Sam said.

“I think I’ll have… a Breakfast burrito platter,” Mike said.

“I guess I’ll have some waffles,” Mathias said.

“Well, I’ll ask the Cakes for my usual then,” Button said, getting up to order. “Hey, Mr. Cake,” Button Mash called out. The sounds of stumbling from a room upstairs followed suit as a yelp and grunts soon followed and what sounded like a male who was covered in a sheet was tumbling downstairs rather painfully. He finally stopped when he hit the table that was a few feet away from the guy’s table with a loud thud and the male underneath the sheets was groaning.

“Ouch,” Mike said as he looked at the male covered by the sheets with pity.

“That’s gotta hurt,” Mathias said, feeling sorry for him.

Sam jumped out of his seat and grabbed the stallion, carefully trying to not move his neck.

“Sir, are you alright?” Sam asked. “Can you feel anything below the neck?”

“Just about, yes, I’m alright,” the stallion said in a high toned voice. “I’ve had worse falls than that before, trust me.”

Sam helped him stand up to his full height of seven feet, the stallion’s face covered in yellow fur with a mane of curly orange hair. His muzzle was longer and thinner than most other stallions they’ve seen, and he was noticeably scrawny.

“Mr. Cake? What happened?” Button asked.

“My wife asked me to bring a box downstairs and when you called my name, I missed one of the steps and stumbled down,” He said with a nervous glance. “The blanket fell over me too, hope it’s not ruined. We’ve had that since we started dating.”

“Who were you dating?” Mike asked.

“He’s talking about his wife Mrs. Cake,” Button mentioned.

“Did someone call for me?” A female voice called out from upstairs. The sounds of footsteps followed suit and the guys were shocked with who they saw stepping down.

The blue and pink mare stepping downstairs was the absolute definition of the word, ‘thick’. Her hips and thighs were almost grazing the walls, her body was cushioned in a generous amount of curves, her belly was round enough to be appealing without being outright fat, and her breasts were large enough to nearly reach her thighs. She stood about six feet and eight inches, and the power she seemed to output was overwhelming. The sense of mother-bear like aura she radiated was as much a turn-on as it was a warning. Her mane was a tall spire of pink hair, like someone had taken frosting from a cupcake and popped it on her head, her tail also generously fluffy. All she wore was a dirty apron that barely covered her chest and a skirt that reached down to her knees.

“Oh, well hello there kids!” she said, smiling at the group. “Honey, are you alright?” she asked, cupping his face in her hands.

“I’m alright, dear, thank you,” he said, kissing her palms. “These young colts walked in with Button Mash.”

“Oh, you’re so attentive when somepony makes an order!” she laughed. “Oh, I shouldn’t have made you move stuff around upstairs when we’re open.”

“Dear, I told you you can handle the kitchen while I clean up here for you!”

“I know, but I had that… other customers, remember?”

“Holy shit, he married that?” Zander whispered.

“What? They seem like they get along,” Sam whispered back.

“Still, I can’t believe someone like him gets to pound that ass every day!”

“What? Why would he do that to her? She seems nice,” Sam said in confusion.

“You’re hopeless,” Zander sighed.

“Anyways, what can I get you fine colts?” she asked, turning back to them. “Any friend of little Button gets their first order free!”

Button listed off their orders as she walked into the kitchen while Mr. Cake picked up stuff off of the stairs, Sam helping him out while the rest of the group went back to the table.

“So, they seem to like you, huh?” Mathias said. “Got a history here?”

“Everypony in town knows me since my mom’s super popular. Mrs. Cake was actually part of my mom’s team before they settled down here. My mom was a Paladin, Caring Hearts used to be a master thief, Mrs. Cake was a Barbarian, Stellar Flare was a mage, Mayor Mare was a charm-caster, and Derpy, the grey mare you met earlier, was an archer for the team. They managed to fight off a daemonic incursion years ago when a cult tried to take over the town, and ever since they’ve been idolized by everypony here.” Button sighed and followed up, “So yeah, no pressure on us, just got a legacy of legendary warriors to follow up on.”

“I don’t know a few of those names but I’m sure they’re all pretty nice, considering the rest we’ve met,” Sam said.

“Wait, that girl with the weird eyes was an archer!?” Mathias said.

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s possible,” Zander said. “Did you even see what happened earlier?”

“Trust me, she’s had worse blunders but she’s a heck of a shot with a bow,” Button said. “I once saw her fire three arrows at once and she managed to land the bullseye on three separate targets.”

“Alright. So, what happened to their team? Why’d they retire?” Mike asked.

“From what Mom told me, when the village was halfway burned down, they decided they needed to stay because they felt responsible for not being able to save most of the town. They helped rebuild everything that got torched and, in the process, they all found love, apparently. Dad met Mom when they were assigned to work on rebuilding the hospital, and they ended up talking about how much they loved foals. They got drunk and got the idea that, since they loved foals so much, they should make one. Years later?” he followed up by waving his hands over himself.

“So what about Mrs. Cake? Or Mayor Mare?”

“Well, sport,” Mrs. Cake said as she hauled a tray of their orders to the table, “I think I’ll answer some of those.”

She set the platter down at the center of the table before giving each of the guys their respective meals, each with a tall glass of milk. As they dug in, she pulled up a chair and spoke.

“Well, I guess it started when I got parched one day, fending off some wolves from the forest. Since the cult stirred up the wildlife, they were getting a tad frisky, and decided to try and scout the town for dinner every now and again. One night, I slew a couple of them to scare off the pack, and I got a little hungry. Didn’t even notice they’d torn up my good bra, so I ended up strolling through town topless! Oh, I still blush when I think about it!” she said, fanning herself.

Zander, Mike and Mathias looked down to see that her point wasn’t quite convincing.

“Anyways, I stumbled into this very store, and ordered a stiff drink and a hot meal. Didn’t bother asking nicely, I was quite fed up with those fuzzy little B-words, pardon my language. A few minutes after I sat down, I noticed everypony looking at me funny, which was when I noticed my girls were stiff as a board, out in the open! Now back then I didn’t care much at all, since I was raised to fight first and be decent never. But then out comes this stallion, scrawny as a prawn with about half the muscle mass, with a blanket in his hand and just rushes up and covers me! Now I thought he was trying to pull something, so I snatched him up and pinned him to a wall. I asked him what he was thinking, and my stars, I’ll never forget those words.”

“‘A mare as pretty as you shouldn’t let anypony see such a beautiful sight’,” Mr. Cake called from upstairs.

“Oh! It gets my heart fluttering every time. First time somepony called me a mare. Now back then, I was all brawn and muscle, and a whole lot less nice about it too. I didn’t have much charm to woo a stallion, but then here comes dear Carrot Cake, running a packed bakery in the middle of a town-wide crisis, using up his last blanket to offer me some cover because he thought somepony as ungrateful as I was deserved it. After that, he sat down with me, gave me a nice meal and oh my goodness, he was just gushing over how amazing he thought I was! He saw me fight off a Juggernaut one-on-one and thought I was the most gorgeous being to walk in Celestia’s light when he saw that. I shared some other tales from my time adventuring, he acted like a little colt being told a bedtime story, and… well, I ordered a stiff drink that night, but I got something much more stiff after that,” she chuckled, blushing deeply. “We kept at it for a few years, he’d made a bed for me but I took his instead when I moved in, started helping him around in my spare time, when we weren’t being ‘busy’. When I found out I was pregnant, I thought he’d try to make up excuses, but I was shocked to see him, one morning, learning how to swing an axe! He was getting ready to fight alongside me, put his life at risk for our little bundles of joy we had no idea were coming! When I saw that, saw this meek little stallion, scared to death of any kind of bump in the night, ready to fight and die for me… I knew it was love. And so I put up the axe, and I’ve worked here since.”

“That is quite the story Mrs. Cake,” Mike said with surprise. “Where is your axe anyways?”

“Oh, it’s hanging above you boys right now,” She said pointing towards the ceiling. Mike and the guys looked up and nearly freaked out seeing the sharp pointed axe hanging above their heads. It was nearly twelve feet tall with twin blades, five feet long and five wide, it was stained with black streaks, the handle intertwined with twin snakes that bit each of the steel blades.

“Holy Crap!” Mike said as he and the guys backed away from it. “Why is that up there?”

“Right, forgot she keeps it above this table,” Button said with a sigh.

“That’s fucking awesome!” Sam screamed. “That’s like something out of Warhammer!”

“Well I had to hang it somewhere,” She said with a smile. “It's something to remember my old adventures with.”

“You don’t think that’s the least bit dangerous?” Mathias asked, eyeing the hooks holding it.

“I normally don’t hear anyone else complain when I have it there,” Mrs Cake followed up. “Well anyways, enjoy your meals boys.”

“Mommy,” two voices called out getting everyone's attention.

Two small children run up to Mrs. Cake, jumping into her arms as she turned to catch them. One was a small colt with beige fur and a brown mane and tail, his mane tall and curled back into a swirl at the tip. He flapped tiny wings as he hugged the mare, and he wore a grey t-shirt with baggy shorts. The filly had pale yellow fur with a puffy orange mane and tail, her mane tied back into a bun that let her horn poke through easily. She wore a dress shirt and a long skirt, both a pale pink.

“Oh, sweet babies!” Mrs. Cake said, lifting them up.

She blew raspberries into their bellies one at a time, the kids laughing hysterically as she did so. Afterwards, she set them down and ran her hands through their manes.

“And how have the sweetest little cakes in the whole wide world been doing today?” she asked in a bubbly voice.

“Heh, her kids look cute, but why does one have wings while the other has a horn?” Mathias asked.

“Oh, that’s from my husband’s side,” she said with a smile. “He had ancestors that were either a pegasus or a unicorn and they both had their traits from them. The adorable little pegasus is our son, Pound Cake, and the precious little unicorn filly is our daughter, Pumpkin Cake.”

“Wow, are you all monsters like what mommy fights?” Pumpkin asked, hopping in place.

“No, their friends of this young Colt Button Mash here,”

“The names Mike, and these are my friends Sam, Mathias and Zander,” he said pointing towards his friends and then holding out his hand for a handshake. “Nice to meet you both.”

He holds his hand out and Pound takes his hand for the handshake, but it wasn’t what he was expecting. Before he knew what was happening, Mike was suddenly flying in the air while Pound was on the ground and he was flailing him around like a ragdoll.

“Oh crap, dude,” Zander said before a blue hand smacked him.

“LANGUAGE!” Mrs. Cake yelled, standing up.

“Our friend is being flailed around like a freaking ragdoll and that’s what you’re worried about?” Zander said with shock on his face. Meanwhile Mike was still screaming and it caused some of the onlookers to look in either amusement, horror, or surprise seeing him getting tossed around.

“Pound, please put him down,” Mr cake said in horror seeing him like this. Pound heard his father and let go of Mike, cueing him to fly forwards and onto the table and a loud crash was heard and he was groaning onto the floor as he never expected that to happen.

“Aw man, that smarts,” Mike groaned. “What’re you feeding your kids?”

“Well, they get that from Cupcake’s side,” Mr. Cake said, picking up his son. “Little rascals can cause a bit of trouble from time to time, but I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said, booping his son, causing him to giggle.

“Well, this is just precious, but I feel that we need to get going,” Mathias said. “We don’t have all day and I’d like it if we could find something useful to start out at the school.”

“Oh, you boys are starting at the school too!?” Mrs. Cake said, clapping. “That’s fantastic! Maybe you can help Button finally get his license too! Oh, his mom will be so happy to hear about the little party you five have.”

“Actually, we’re not-” Button started before Sam clamped his claws over his mouth.

“Yes! Yes, that’s right, we’re gonna help him train! And in return, he’s going to teach us everything we need to know to pass our classes!” Sam said. “Isn’t that right?” he asked, looking at Button.

Sam released the colt and he nodded along. “Y-yeah, they’re gonna… train me, and I’ll help them with the written exams.”

“Oh, that’s just wonderful,” Mrs. Cake said. “I know you boys will be in good hands. Well, I suppose I should get back to the kitchen. Going to need to refill some of our stock,” she said, jiggling her breasts.

With that, she walked off, leaving Mathias and Zander to stare at the glasses on the table. Zander quickly grabbed his glass and chugged it down, slamming back the whole thing in a massive gulp before he put it back on the table.

“Five stars,” he said, gasping for air.

“Yeah, food’s fantastic,” Sam said.

“Are you alright young man?” Mr cake asked as he walked over to Mike who was still on the floor.

“I’ll let you know when I’m not in any pain right now,” Mike groaned.

\\\\\\//////

“Goodbye, come again,” Mrs cake said with a smile on her face as the family waved them off. The guys finish eating and are already leaving the building. The cake family was waving them off. Mike was still feeling sore from the flailing that he got and needed to stretch after that.

“Damn, if he’s that strong as a kid, I’d hate to piss him off when he gets older,” Mike said, cricking his neck.

“Yeah, I probably should’ve warned you about that,” Button Mash said while rubbing the back of his head with a blush. “Last time I tried that, I ended up being thrown through the wall. I’d say you got off lucky compared to me.”

“Yeah... lucky… Anyways, what’s next on the town tour?” Mathias asked.

“Well there’s the weapons shop that my friend’s mom owns, and the armor and potions shop next to it,” Button said, pointing towards two building off in the distance.

The weapon’s shop was a brick and mortar building, two stories, the whole thing red and grey, with a massive greatsword speared through a shield sticking out above the door, as if it were impaled there after the store was opened. There were no windows, and the door was heavy and looked like it could be easily barred.

The next store was a round building, the walls lined with large windows. The wood of the building was painted a bright blue, and the sign that hung above the door was of a heart with a set of potions and armor on the top of it.

“So a weapons shop and an armor shop are together?” Zander asked.

“Yeah, it’s where new adventurers get new or rare weapons depending on their rank, and you can even create stronger weapons or armor if you have specific materials for smelting,” Button explained as they walked towards the pair of buildings.

“Seriously?” Sam asked in shock.

“Yeah, but you can hear more of it from my mom and Caring Heart since they can explain it better,” Button explained as he opened the door.

Inside were racks and mannequins covered in armor, with various degrees of skimpiness. Some sets were just bikinis, some were actual plate and mail sets. Along the walls were paintings of Adventurers wearing some sets of armor that were encased beneath them. At the far wall of the building was a large semi-circle work area, with a full forge and a large anvil, glowing with runes.

Working at the back of the store was a large mare, nearly the same size and proportions as Mrs. Cake, except this mare wasn’t as chubby, her arms and legs had more muscle definition, and her breasts were a few sizes smaller. Her fur was beige and she had long, flowing locks of brown mane and tail. She wore a smith’s apron, a thick black tarp that wrapped around her chest and hips, and she wore black gloves as well, both articles stained and burned, and a pair of short shorts clamped around her buns and thighs.

“Oh, Button, sweetie!” she called from across the store. “How’s your day going?”

“Hi Mom,” Button said, waving at her. “I uh, made some friends at the school today.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful! I see they’re such fine young colts as well! My name is Cream Heart, I’m Button Mash’s mother. How are all of you doing?”

“Uh, we’re alright,” Mike said. “Is it, um, safe? For you to work…”

“Topless?” Zander finished. “Not that we mind, though, if it’s comfortable for you don’t mind us, by all means.”

“Of course it’s safe, after all, I’m quite tough. Back in my days, I was a Paladin under Celestia’s Light. When a mare takes on a role, they’re innately granted heat resistance almost high enough to compare to a dragon’s. Not to mention that the forge gets a bit toasty and I end up sweating straight through all of my clothes anyways.”

“I see,” Mathias said. “So… you work as an armorsmith? Aren’t there already enough shops by the Guild? No offense, but I’m not really seeing a point to having another shop out here when there’s almost three vendors at the Guild.”

“It’s quite alright,” she said with a smile. “You’d be surprised how many adventurers I get coming in here for new armor or to have it repaired when their previous armor gets damaged. I have a specific unicorn come in as a regular here.”

“I think she’s talking about Rarity,” Mike said to himself.

“Anyways, the reason they would come here is to have their armor enhanced when they get their armor to a certain level,” she said.

“Enhanced?” Mathias asked. “Wouldn’t it be easier to just put on a new armor piece they find?”

“I doubt a piece of armor you’d find in a thousand year old ruin would be fitted to a mare’s natural cup size, or a stallion’s height. A pony’s armor isn’t just something easily replaced, it has to be tailored to your body and fighting style, otherwise you’d end up hurting yourself trying to fit in something that just doesn’t work for you. Some newbies think that just because a piece of armor is cooler or has a better enchantment then they can just slap it on, but some enchanted armors can have runes that make it so they only work for the intended wearer. If any of that’s the case, then, whelp, just watch.”

She reached under her counter and pulled out a small pair of gloves, black with grey d-pads as a logo. They were set on the anvil as she pulled out a large pair of brass arm pieces, nearly five times the size and covered in faded runes. When they were set down, she put the gauntlets on top of the gloves, and grabbed a large hammer with a circular rune on it. From underneath her workbench, Cream Heart pulled out a vial of glowing green liquid and poured it over the gauntlets, causing them to melt and bend. While they were being melted down, she struck with her hammer. Each blow she delivered caused a burst of sparks to douse her apron, and the gauntlets were reduced into a small mass of glowing liquid. When she landed her last strike, she set the hammer down and grabbed a bottle of sparkling dust. With a careful hand, she slowly peppered the masses with it, grabbed her hammer again, and slammed it onto each glove once.

Cream Heart pulled back and revealed the gloves, now glowing with the same runes that were on the gauntlets.

“When a piece of gear is enchanted, the magic that’s used isn’t completely tied to the item itself, it’s just a constant spell that’s always binding itself to the original casting point,” she said, brushing the gloves off. “A good enough smith can isolate the magical loop of an enchantment and work it out of the item, so long as there’s something nearby to ground it to. The resulting relocation of magic, however, can rupture the integrity of the original item, so it’s often lost in the process.”

“So that’s something to take into account when it comes to what materials go with what?” Mathias asked, very intrigued by all of this.

“Thanks for the explanation,” Mike followed up.

“Huh. Neat,” Sam said.

“No problem boys,” she said with a smile. “So, can you boys tell me-”

The door rang as a mare and filly walked in behind them. Turning around, the guys saw a tall pegasus mare, as tall as Cream Heart but with a slightly smaller waistline and chest. Her fur was white, and her mane and tail were a dark grey, though her mane was braided into a single braid down to her knees. She wore a button shirt, though it was tied up around her impressive chest, and a torn skirt that rested at her knees. Beside her was a filly about Button’s height, with the same fur and mane colors, though her mane was much more poofy, with a windswept style, and her proportions were far less abundant than most other ponies they’d seen. She wore a black dress shirt and yellow pants, and she eyed the guys nervously.

“Hello, Creamy~!” the large mare greeted in a sing-song voice. “I see Button’s met some new friends!”

“Hi Carey!” Cream greeted. “I was just saying hi to them, to! Come in, we can all have a nice chat!”

The mare stepped past the guys, hiking up a basket filled with bulky armor pieces and a much smaller set at the top of the pile. While she walked off with Cream Heart, the filly approached the guys and looked between them.

“Wow, you guys are weirdos,” she said. “No wonder you’re friends with Button.”

“Well up yours too,” Zander said, flicking his hand off of his chin.

“Come on man, she’s just a kid,” Mathias said with a sigh. “She’s probably doing it to get a rise out of us.”

“Anyways, why are you here, Button?” she asked, walking up to him and flicking the spinner on his hat. “I thought you’d be at the school, failing another exam.”

“Well, Tumble,” he growled, waving her hand away, “I met these guys at the school while I was watching the Crusaders have an FFA.”

“So they caught you perving out on the top students?”

“I was examining! Their fighting techniques!” he said, stomping his hoof and pointing a finger at her. “Not that you’d understand since the only thing you know how to study is how to be a rotten cunt!”

“Get to the point, you little turd mongler,” Tumble growled.

“The point is, is that they’re new adventurers too, and they need help passing the written exams, so I’ve agreed to tutor them so they can help me train for the practical exam, so I can finally get my license.”

“Oh, wow!” she said, faking enthusiasm. “What a wonderful surprise! A bunch of noponies coming to the aid of another nopony! I bet they’ll really be helpful when they learn you can’t even swing a mace properly. If you’ll excuse me, my mom’s passing on her armor’s enchantments to my first set, since my Licensing exam is coming up soon and I know I’ll pass this time. I’ll be out in the fields in no time while you just sit in the back of your class and jerk it until you pass out. Later, Butt-Mash,” she said, walking to the back of the store.

“Celestia, I hate her!” He said, kicking over some boxes that had armor scraps inside of it.

“Okay, do you have some issues with her or something?” Mike asked towards Button.

“I don’t even know what in Tartarus her problem is,” Button said in annoyance. “She always looks for any excuse to make fun of me, and I always hated her for it. I don’t even know why she always picks on me when I didn't even do anything to her.”

“Yeah, kinda weird since your parents seem to get along just fine,” Mathias said.

“Why would she even bother picking on you if she’s already got a license?” Zander asked. “Kinda stupid for someone like her to just go around picking on students. She’s probably just a petty bitch at heart, man, don’t take it too personal.”

“Not to mention when it comes to bullies, they're usually insecure about something or someone,” Mathias added.

“If she was insecure about anything I’m pretty sure it’s her, you know, sizes,” Zander said, motioning his hand over his chest. “She’s probably jealous other girls get attention that she’ll never get.”

A boot sailed past Zander’s head as he ducked. He stood upright and glared at Tumble, who had another boot in her other hand, plucked straight from the shelf. She looked between the boot and Zander, who was practically growling, his teeth bared as he drew his knife. Tumble dropped the boot and ran through the nearby door, slamming it shut.

“Yeah, that’s what I fucking thought!” Zander shouted, sheathing the knife. “I’ve stabbed people for less, you skinny little bitch!”

“Why would she be mad at me for that?” Button Mash said in confusion. “It’s not like that really matters when you’re an adventurer. It’s important to have skill, the knowledge to put it to use, and the willpower to do what you need to. My mom taught me about what it takes to be a hero, not just to other ponies, but for yourself, and… I’ll be honest, I never saw myself becoming one. I have knowledge, that’s what everypony tells me, but I can’t find one weapon, one single weapon I can even remotely use well! And, willpower… I may as well not even be related to my mom at all. I mean, she’s got enough willpower to channel Sol’s magic! SOL! She’s a Paladin that’s bested Daemons, and I can’t even sleep at night without a candle because I’m scared of the dark and I can’t believe I just said that out loud,” he said, smacking himself in the face. “The point is, if looks determined adventurers, we wouldn’t have had Mage Meadowbrook or Mistmane the Sorceress, or even Starswirl the Bearded as heroes! If that’s what she’s concerned with, it’ll only hold her back.”

“Yeah, that’s the spirit!” Sam said, patting Button’s shoulders. “I mean, look at me! I don’t let this stop me! If she can’t get over whatever it is she’s worried about, she’s only slowing herself down.”

“Just wish she wouldn’t drag me down with her.”

“Hey! Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,” Sam said, slapping his hands against Button’s face. “No. You don’t let her do that, alright? You let her attitude affect you, she wins. You gotta let her be by herself. If she wants to be miserable, let her be miserable on her own! It’s what I did with my parents and I’ve been great ever since!”

“Alright… I, I’ll try and remember that, thanks,” Button said, smiling. “Can you please let go of my face?”

“It is very soft, I’m sorry,” Sam said as he let go.

“Well we still haven’t toured the rest of town so maybe we can-”

“Excuse me!” A mare shouted from the doorway interrupting the guys from their talk. They all turned around to find an azure unicorn with a silverish mane and tail who was soaking wet from head to hoof and looked pretty pissed off.

The mare was about six feet and eight inches tall, her body quite voluptuous around the thighs and waist, though her belly toted little fat. Her chest was perked with FF-cup breasts, which were plainly visible as possible, her bright silver nipples visible for all to see under her translucent clothes. She wore what looked like a set of curtains, cloth wrapped around her neck and shoulders that draped only thin little flaps over her breasts, hanging just below her areolas, which didn’t matter since the fabric was soaked through. Another curtain flowed around her waist from the back, acting as a barrier in front of her snatch, which also did nothing as it too was soaking wet. Aside from those, she wore a massive cape and a tall wizard hat, both lavender and covered with stars and moons.

“Trixie would like to speak with somepony about her attire’s enchantments not working properly!” she announced, strutting through the guys’ group.

Zander and Button hung their heads to get a glimpse of Trixie’s ass as she walked by, which had no covering at all, allowing them to glimpse her cushiony pillows and marks of a wand with the crescent moon.

“Do you colts know where Trixie can find the shop owners?” she demanded, slamming both of her hands on the front desk. “Trixie demands that she speak to them.”

The door behind the desk soon opened to reveal both mothers walking back into the room.

“Oh, Trixie, what happened to you?” Caring Hearts asked with concern.

“What happened? What HAPPENED!?” she yelled seeming to get more frustrated as her magenta eyes glared at them. “The stupid charm you used for my armor failed is what happened! I was working on a Level three water spell and it backfired on me, leaving my clothes in such a state!”

“How did a water spell manage to keep all of your robes clear and stuck to you this whole time?” Caring asked.

“Because it was a binding spell meant to keep a monster stuck in water until Trixie’s party could subdue it, but now Trixie’s robes won’t dry since the charm attracted the bind!”

“Does this happen a lot?” Mike asked Button.

“Yeah,” He said with a sigh. “She’s a bronze adventurer and she usually flops on some of her spells.”

“Any why is she referring to herself in the third person?” Mathias asked.

“Apparently there’s some research about how speaking in the third person can make you more aware of your actions and makes you a better judge of character. At least, that’s what she says, but I think it’s because she’s full of herself.”

“Well, I can take a look at the enchantment again if you’d like, Trixie,” Cream Heart said.

“Very well,” Trixie said, blushing. “However, due to the nature of the bind, Trixie is unable to… remove her clothes at the moment. She was wondering if you could-”

“Hop on the table,” Cream sighed.

“Trixie thanks you.”

Trixie turned and sat on the edge of the counter, hoisting her legs around so she could get on the table and laid down. Cream Heart ran her hands along the wet cloth, and the moment her hands slid up Trixie’s breast curtain, the water locked itself around her fingers and pressed her hand down into Trixie’s chest.

“Ahn! N-not so rough!” Trixie moaned.

“Oh yeah, that’s a binding, alright,” Cream said as her hand started to glow.

The water hissed as it evaporated to steam as Cream Heart pulled her hand out of the bind, glowing with intense power.

“The best I can do is remove the enchantments and start from scratch.”

“B-but Trixie doesn’t have any money!” Trixie said, sitting up. “She… s-she may have spent it, at a… rowdy show.”

“Hey, looks like it does teach humility,” Mathias whispered.

“You guys notice how all these weird things tend to happen the moment we walk in any place?” Sam asked.

“Shut up, I’m trying to watch this,” Zander hissed.

“Well, since I know you’re good for it, seeing as how you’ve always paid your tabs, I’ll just make you a replacement set and you can pay it back over time.”

“Trixie is immensely grateful.”

Cream Heart’s hands glowed as she grasped Trixie’s top by the neck piece, one hand pulling the fabric while the other held Trixie’s shoulder back. It sizzled and steamed as she peeled the thin outfit off of Trixie’s body, the water cascading off of her fur and off the table. Trixie hissed as the heat from the process radiated across her body, and yelped in pain as she was wrenched from the binding.

“Ah, a thousand thanks, Trixie gives you,” Trixie said as she stretched, standing up from the table. “Truly Celestia chose a wonderful mare to be a Paladin.”

“She is aware that she’s flashing us, right?” Mike asked Button.

“Trixie has nothing to be ashamed of,” she said, waving her hands over her curves, “for Trixie knows how beautiful her temple of flesh is.”

“Keep flashing my son and I’ll put you back in the bind,” Cream Heart growled.

Trixie quickly folded her cape over herself, smiling sheepishly to Cream Heart as she walked off.

“Trixie will wait in the bathroom!” she said before running inside.

“Well, that happened,” Sam said. “So, what were we here for? We can’t afford armor, so we can’t exactly do much here.”

“I was going to show you guys the weapon shop next, since you should know where to go for all of your needs.”

“I’m going to go out on a limb and say that there’s something special about the weapon shop since it’s all the way out here instead of being a vendor at the Guild?” Mathias said.

“Well, I’m flattered you’d think that, sweetie,” Caring Hearts said, walking up to them. “I’m Caring Hearts, Tumble’s mother, and I own the weapon shop next door. I can show you lovely young things around, if you’d like.”

“That depends on whether or not your daughter would tag along,” Zander said.

“Oh, she needs to stay here to get her armor refitted. It’s been a few months since her last exam, so she needs to have new measurements taken. I’m hopeful that her next exam will mean she’s getting her license. What about you, Button? How are your tests?”

“Uh, well, I’ve gotten perfect scores on all of my written tests,” he said, looking at the ground. “And, I met these guys, and they agreed to help train me for my practical exam.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful!” she said, clapping. “If you boys want to sample some arms, you’re more than welcome to visit my store anytime for a discount. In fact, why don’t you come right now? I’m sure I can find something that’ll interest you.”

“I mean, we might as well,” Button said.

The guys agreed and followed the mare out the door. When they left, Trixie poked her head out of the bathroom and looked around.

“Are they gone?”

“Yes Trixie, they’re gone,” Cream Heart said, smelting the clothes Trixie wore. “Please be more aware of the ponies around you before you proclaim your naked beauty to the world.”

“Trixie apologizes, she didn’t know your son was in the crowd,” she said. “But, you have to admit, those colts he was with were quite cute, weren’t they?”

“If you like furless little freakazoids, yes,” Cream Heart said, hammering the enchantments into a set of clothes identical to Trixie’s last set, only matching her cape and hat in color.

“Hmph. Well, Trixie was raised to be more open minded with whom she shares company with. And besides, that dragon looking one was adorable as well.”

“Like ‘em short?”

“Quite. Why else would Trixie wear something like this?”

“If I didn’t know any better, you sound like you’re desperate for a mate,” Cream joked, making Trixie blush.

“A-as if,” she said in defense while her face turned red. “Trixie just….hasn't found the right mate, that’s all.”

“And you think cradle-robbing anypony my son hangs out with doesn’t look suspicious?”

“Trixie will take her armor and leave while she pretends to have some dignity, thank you very much.”

“Alright, alright, I just finished anyway,” She said, setting Trixie’s clothes on the counter and she walked back towards the bathroom and got dressed. She later stepped out with her armor on.

“Thank you.”

“Sure thing, oh and Trixie,” Cream said with a smile that soon turned into a dark glare to scare a manticore. “Flash my son again, Sol and Artemis themselves won’t be able to fix what I do to you.”

Chapter 8

View Online

Caring Hearts led the five towards her shop, the red brick building next to the armor shop, and were guided in by the large mare.

“Well, come on in, boys,” she said, holding the door open for them.

As they walked in, they saw that the shop was massive, a room cordoned off with a grindstone and forge, a chimney poking sideways to keep the smoke from polluting the shop. All of the walls were lined with weapons, some of them framed in glass cases with portraits depicting great battles they partook in. The counters between the walls and the main floor were lined with glass cases, filled with smaller weapons, like brass knuckles, daggers and compact crossbows. On the walls were swords of varying lengths and widths, axes, hammers and great mauls. In the main area of the floor were test dummies, one covered in scales, one in steel plate and one coated in muck.

“Wow, this is impressive,” Zander said.

“No kidding, how many weapons do you guys have here?”

“Anyone who’s looking to buy my gear of course,” She said with a smile when she walks behind the counter. “Anyways, I know you boys are here to sample weapons here, so why don’t we get started?”

“Depends on what you have,” Mike asked as he and the guys walked up to the counter.

“Well, I don’t want to sound rude, but I’d start with something a bit smaller than what you see most mares carrying around these days,” she said with a smile, reaching into one of the glass displays. “Given you colts’ sizes, I’d say it’d be safer to start you off with a weapon closer to your size, like a shortsword.”

She pulled out a 2 foot long bronze sword, about 3 inches wide. The handle was wrapped with a dirty, spotted leather and the blade’s edges sported a few chips and dull spots.

“That, uh…” Matthias said, pointing at it, “looks like a…”

“Piece of junk?” Zander finished.

“Ye- I mean, come on! Don’t say it like that!” Matthias said, glaring at his friend.

“To be fair, it’s quite true,” Caring Hearts said. “This is a little trinket I use to help gauge the strength and dexterity of some clients. Once you test it out, I can check the dummy to see what kind of fighting style you’d be better at.”

“She has a point,” Mike added with a sigh.

Matthias grabbed the handle and pulled it out of her hands, holding it vertically.

“Well, I kinda…” he said, waving it around for a bit while the guys backed off. “I kinda like how this feels.”

“Well, that’s a good sign so far,” she said. “Now, go ahead and test it, sweetie.”

Matthias turned to the dummy closest to them and approached it. Testing a few swings, he rolled his shoulders and his neck to limber up before he took a wider stance. With a shout, he swung with all of his might and managed to dig a sizable gash in the dummy.

“Well, that’s another good sign,” Caring said, walking up and examining the dummy’s damage. “Cut about six inches deep, could have easily done plenty of damage to most common beasts. I’d say you’re a bit more lenient towards Dex, but… wait,” she said, squinting at the hole.

“Is something wrong?” Mike asked.

“Did Matt mess up again?” Sam asked.

“What!? The fuck do you mean. ‘Again’!?” Matt said, jabbing a finger onto Sam’s scaled chest.

“You read the spell that brought us here.”

Matt withdrew his finger as he scowled at Sam.

“He’s got you there,” Zander said.

“Well this is amazing!” Caring Hearts said.

“What’s amazing?” Matthias asked.

“It looks like you’ve got a knack for passive enchantments, sweetie!” she said, rolling the dummy up to them. “Lookie here,” she pointed to the sizzling scar on the dummy. “This target was enchanted to weave itself back together after taking a hit, but when you swung that sword, you managed to turn the spell against itself! You cannibalized the magic so that instead of repairing the dummy, the cut’s gonna keep going until it’s burrowed all the way through!”

Matthias blinked and looked at his hands in shock.

“Holy shit!” he said. “Is it going to eat my hands!?”

“No, no, that’s not how that works. You managed to reverse the effects of the spell itself, not cast a Flesh-Eaters swarm. Goddesses know that if you could and, guessing by the reaction, this is the first time you’ve done it, you’d probably have killed us all by now.”

“That’s pretty amazing on your first try,” Button Mash said in surprise. “A reversal enchantment’s pretty rare to find on anything, since it applies on contact, but to innately pass it onto an unenchanted weapon might be unheard of.”

“Hey, you think if you swing that at Sam it’ll split his dragon half from his human half?” Zander asked.

“What!? No way, you’re not splitting me!” Sam yelled, grabbing his tail. “I don’t need dragon fangs to bite your knees off if you try!”

“I wasn’t going to, Jesus, calm down!” Matthias said.”

“Seems someone can’t take a joke,” Mike added. “But then again, you don’t want to lose that form too soon, do you?”

“No way! I never have to wear anything again, and I’m the color of my Homebrew Ork chapter! Oh, and the tail. I don’t know how to use it, but I’ll figure it out one day.”

“Geez, I was kidding,” Mathias said, trying to get Sam to relax.

Caring Hearts tapped Matt on the shoulder, drawing their attention.

“If you don’t mind, sweetie, I’d like to see your friends give it a go,” she said, patting a new dummy she took out.

“Oh, right, uh, Mike you’re up,” he said, handing the blade to him.

“Okay,” Mike said, taking it. “This is, uh… really light.”

“Well, try swinging it at the dummy, deary,” Caring said, stepping back behind the counter.

Mike rolled his shoulders and took a batting stance in front of the dummy. He reeled back and swung hard. His mutated left hand swung faster than his right, ripping the sword out of the other hand and smashing it into the dummy. The blade nearly chopped the whole thing in half, smoke pouring out of it while the blade was glowing.

“Oh, goodness!” Caring said, walking up to examine the damage. “It looks like you can overheat a blade, that’ll be a handy skill in dark places. And you kept a good grip while slashing clean through. Definitely a good balance on strength and dex, I’d say you could hold… a greatsword, but you’d probably want to start with something light and comfortable for the class, like an old Claymore I have on the shelf,” she said, pointing to a three and a half foot long blade with a silver handle and guard.

“Huh… again, like Nero,” Mike whispered.

“Hey, maybe we should see if they have any guns,” Zander said, bumping Mike with his elbow. “See if you could get a Blue Rose while we’re at it.”

“A gun?” Caring asked. “Oh, well, if that’s what you’re after, I’ve got just the thing!”

Caring bent over and dug through a crate before pulling out a dusty, rotting box. She blew a cloud of dust off of it before putting it down on the surface. Opening it, she showed off a large revolver with two barrels.

“Wha… I was fucking joking,” Zander said, jaw agape at the sight.

“Yeah, this little trinket’s been in my family’s inventory longer than most towns have been in Equestria,” she said. “I got no idea how they crafted it, or how to get it to work. I’ll cut you a deal, sugar. If you can get this little diddy to work, it’s yours to keep. It’s not selling anytime soon, so it’s just more space for me.”

“Wait a second,” Matthias said, “you guys have guns in this world?”

“Well, yes,” Caring said.

“Wha… then why do you people go around swinging axes and swords wearing bikinis you call, ‘armor’, when you could, oh, I don’t know, just shoot the monsters with fucking Guns!?”

“Well, since you asked so politely,” she sneered, “it’s because it’s expensive. Getting a stock of munition capable of taking down some low to mid-level monsters, like a Timberwolf, costs nearly four hundred bits for only around thirty shots.”

Zander whistled. “Damn, that’s pretty high.”

“Even then, there’s no guarantee that the bullet would penetrate any charms or wards some monsters accumulate over time. Magic nullifying rounds are extremely rare, since they need to mold a heap of Blankstone into a proper size. Not to mention that your options for firing the thing are also limited. One the one hand, blackpowder ignition. It’s easy to learn and anypony, or creature, can pick it up and learn it at any age, but the powder’s expensive. Plus, they don’t tend to enchant those. The other option is magically-fueled firing mechanisms that pour magic into a cylinder lined with different matrices that charge a shot and launch it. But then you run into the issue of having to train to focus magic into it, keeping it from passively sucking out your mana while it’s holstered, and the fact that so few species can actually use it that those kinds of models aren’t even sold to anypony that doesn’t have a horn, they’re about as useless as a doorstop without one.”

“So… what do you use guns for if they’re so expensive?” Matthias asked.

“Well, not many ponies use them. Sometimes a Griffon Noble House buys some stock for their personal guards, or some Unicorn purists pocket whatever mana-fueled models they can find. Had to fight off at least seven other ‘customers’ from robbing this little thing, so I’m quite eager to get it out of my mane.”

Mike looked between his demon hand and the gun several times before slowly reaching out to it. His claws wrapped around the leather-coated grip, cool to the touch, and hefted it out of the box. The weight felt natural in his hands as he examined it from all angles. Popping the cylinder out, he was surprised to see that it was just an empty shell. Snapping it back in, he pulled back on the hammer.

“Good luck trying to get it to work, every mare in my family’s been trying to-”

CLICK

The gun glowed in Mike’s grip, illuminated with blue light as a tingle ran up his arm. Fire spewed from the barrel, bouncing around the shop. Caring Hearts ducked as it flew overhead, Matt got to the ground, Zander pulled out his knife and battered it away while it bounced off of Sam’s forehead before exploding on the half-cut dummy. Blue fire encased the dummy, burning it to a crisp in seconds. Mike looked between the dummy and the gun before looking at Caring Hearts.

“Anyone try pulling the hammer?” he asked. “Jeez, this thing’s got some firepower.”

“Ugh, literally,” Sam said, rubbing his forehead.

“W-well, I am a mare of my word,” she said, pushing the box to Mike. “The thing’s yours, I suppose.”

Mike picked up the box and saw a strap and holster for it. He put the gun in the box and clicked it shut.

“Think I’ll keep it put away for now.”

“Please do,” Sam said.

“You gonna name it?” Zander asked.

“What?”

“You know, Nero had the Blue Rose, Dante had Ebony and Ivory, what’s yours?”

Mike looked at the box’s blank label, the silver frame of the gun dancing in his head like a ghost.

“... Silver Ghost,” he said. “I’ll call it the-”

The box’s label lit up and burned the words into the metal surface, written in cursive.

“... okay, that’s weird.”

“Really? After everything else that’s happened today, that’s what’s weird to you?” Matthias said, raising an eyebrow.

“Okay, so is it my turn, right?” Zander said. “I wanna see what else I can do with this baby!” he said, flicking the knife between his fingers.

“Oh, well, it seems you’ve already found your affinity!” Caring said. “I can see your dex is quite remarkably in tune with the weapon you’ve got. Where did you get it?”

“Oh, well, uh, I got it for two hundred bits down in-”

“Two hundred!?” she shrieked. “Oh, goodness, I could never live with myself if I conned a sweet colt like you out of more of your bits! Oh, don’t worry about trying to buy something from me, sweetie, you’ve already got what you need,” she said with a sincere smile.

Zander sighed as he sheathed the knife. “Great. Got it.”

“Alright, batter up!” Sam said, pulling back with the sword in his hands.

He swung at the-

CLANK

-bent dummy in the back, now with half of a sword stuck in its lower half.

Sam tumbled to the ground as he clutched the broken hilt of the sword while Caring winced.

“Ooooh… well, I can certainly say that you’ve got quite a high strength threshold,” she said.

“I’m sorry I broke your sword,” Sam said, getting up and holding the hilt to her.

“Oh, don’t worry sweetie,” she said, grabbing it. “It’s a couple years old now, it’s bound to have happened at some point! I’ll tell ya what, I’ve got some old bone-fists from my brawling days in the back. I’ll let you have a try at those before I see if they’re a better fit. Stay put, now!”

She walked off into a storage room while Sam started quaking with excitement.

“BONE FISTS!” he half-shouted. “That sounds awesome! And she says it’s a brawling weapon! You know what that means!?”

“That you get excited when someone brings up fists and boning?” Zander said.

“My years of boxing are going to pay off!”

The three exchanged a few looks before Mike rubbed the back of his neck.

“Uh, dude?” Mike said. “You know we’re friends, right?”

“Um… hopefully?” Sam said.

“Right, and as friends, how many times have we been there for you when you lost a fight?”

“All the time! Because you’re all awesome, and I appreciate every second of it.”

“Okay, but how many fights have you come back with a loss from?” Matthias said.

“Uh, well… da-da-da… carry the, four? No, it’s three… or was it six?”

“Dude, you lose all the time and you suck at boxing,” Zander said.

“Zander!”
“The shit, man!”

Mike and Matthias went off on Zander while Sam blinked.

“What? You… you guys think I’m bad at boxing? I mean, I know I’ve lost most of the matches I’ve been in, but-”

“Come on man, name one match you actually won! Hell, you couldn’t even beat us in Mortal Kombat!”

“I mean, yeah, but that’s because I’m always put out of my weight class. Seriously, have you ever tried to fight a three hundred and sixty two pound bear of a man in a cage match? I was lucky I went out in the third round. Besides, if I fought in my recommended class, I could easily win.”

“Against what, sixth graders?”

“Okay, that was uncalled for, dude!” Mike said.

“Well, look at me now!” Sam said, smacking his scaled chest. “I’ve got super scales and dragon strength! This is the ultimate advantage I needed all along! It’s like every failure in boxing’s been leading me to this! Exact! Moment!”

Zander took a good look at Sam again, seeing the wearing hope in his face. He wanted to poke holes in his words, maybe crack another joke, but this was one of the few times he’d seen Sam put on that face. There was no smile, no mirth, just pure sincerity.

“Haa… alright, maybe I’m kind of… being a dick, sorry,” Zander said.

“It’s cool, just… let me at least try this, before we go saying… anything else.”

Caring Hearts came back into the room with a pair of large objects. They were mounds of rounded bones, each one a singular mass with an opening for a sleeve.

“These puppies I forged from the kneecaps of one of the Greater Daemons that attacked a few years ago. Wanted to try them out myself on some unlucky inequine bastard, but I got too busy in the store to go out for another romp. So now, I keep them around in case somepony wants to try their luck at punching. Now please,” she said, handing them off to Sam, “be my guest.”

Sam giggled with great mirth as he slipped his hands into them. He clanked them together a few times before he took a few test swings. Spacing his stance, he eyed the dummy before zoning in on it and winding up a massive slugger hit.

\\\\\\//////

Mrs. Cake sighed as she rubbed her temples, glaring at her irate customer.

“Please, Mrs. Rich,” she growled, “understand that this is an expensive order, and-”

“How could it possibly be that expensive, you knave!?” the pink mare scoffed.

The mare in question was a pink one, with a purple mane and tail. A diamond ring was emblazoned on her flanks, and she stood by her mansion’s door in an immaculate white dress, with diamonds laced along the line of her exposed EE bust and the seams that framed her large hips. By her side was a cart with a tower of gelatin, with strawberries and cherries sprinkled within as it stood nearly a foot over the mare.

“How could a tower of strawberry jam cost nearly three hundred bits!?” Spoiled Rich screeched. “You’re exaggerating the price so you can afford more of those unruly drinks you so love to guzzle down.”

“I haven’t had a drink in nearly six years!” Mrs. Cake said, clenching her fists.

“As if anypony would believe a mare like you would willingly sleep with a stallion like that while sober,” she said, examining her nails. Mrs CAke felt veins popping on her forehead as her right eye twitched.

“How… oh, if you don’t pay for it now, I’ll-”

“You’ll do what!?”

SPLAT

Something crashed into the tower of gelatin, smashing both itself and the tower into Mrs. Rich, toppling her over in a mountain of jam. She screamed and flailed, trying to wipe off the jam from her already soaked dress. The jelly seeped through, clinging to her body and letting her nipples and crotch become visible to all around them. She turned to go back into her mansion, only to smack face-first into a test dummy lodged into the doorway. Spoiled Rich was knocked out on contact, falling to the ground in a limp splash.

Mrs. Cake blinked as she examined the damage to both her client and her food. She shrugged and reached into Mrs. Rich’s purse, withdrawing notes for the bits she needed for the jelly. Before she walked away, she eyed the soaked, jelly coated tits of the rude mare and checked if anypony was watching before she leaned down and pinched her nipples. Mrs. Cake tasted the jelly from her fingers and chuckled as she walked off.

“Consider that my tip.”

\\\\\\//////

The guys gaped as they saw the damage Sam’s punch delivered, the wall blown wide open and part of the shop in ruins.

“Uh… at least no one got hurt? I think,” Sam said, taking off the smoking bone fists.

Caring Hearts stood there with her jaw hanging as Sam placed the gloves on a countertop.

“Wah… wah… wah…” she gasped, gripping the counter.

“I am so, so extremely sorry, ma’am,” Sam said. “I didn’t think I’d hit it that hard, I just-”

“That is astonishing!” Caring Hearts screamed, cupping her cheeks in her hands.

“Uh-”

Sam was scooped up by the mare and he was smothered in her tits, Caring squeezing him as she spun around.

“That was the most amazing showcase of raw power I’ve ever seen!” she said, twirling.

She stopped and let Sam go, putting him on the ground where he coughed up a storm.

“ACK! P-puh-please comb out the loose fur before you do that to someone!” he coughed.

“Oh, sorry, I haven’t groomed in a while, been busy,” she said, blushing. “Either way, that’s the most impressive strength I’ve seen in a novice in my whole life! To think, a small little guy like you can pack a punch like that is something.”

“Ha, well, I don’t mean to brag,” Sam said, polishing his knuckles on his chest, “but I am a man of the ring. I’ve got three years of fighting under my… well, I had a belt, but… scales? Wait, that sounds wrong.”

“Well, I can’t imagine many opponents standing straight after you giving a hit like that!”

“As if he could land a hit in the first place,” Zander muttered.

“I know it’s probably not going to bode well, but, I think-”

“Ma’am, if you’re going to suggest I just take your gloves, I have to decline,” Sam said.

“What? Why, are they too loose? Sleeves too long? Too heavy on the front?” she asked, bending over to get to eye-level with him.

Zander bit back a comment on the last point.

“It just doesn’t feel right, Mrs. Heart. I’m very glad to have tested them out, and I’m extremely flattered by your offer, but… well, we broke a couple of dummies and you’ve already given one of your rarest pieces to my friend,” Sam said, waving to Mike. “It doesn’t sit well in my gut to take them. Plus, I want my first ones to be special. Something I can look at and say, ‘hey, I made this’. You know?”

She smiled warmly and hugged Sam, patting him on the back.

“I know exactly how that feels, Sweetie.”

“... also, I kind of blew that wall open so you’ll probably need the money selling it off for repairs,” Sam said.

Caring chuckled as she got back up.

“Not when you’ve got a couple of stallions that owe you several favors,” she said with a wink. “Now, this has been a fun little romp with you colts, but I’m afraid I need to collect on some debts, so I need to leave now. This place has an enchantment that’ll shock and freeze anypony that’s in here without me present, so I’d suggest leaving for now.”

“Guess that sounds like a plan,” Mike said with a sigh.

“Thanks for letting me give them the tour,” Button said with a smile.

“Sure thing hun,” Caring said with a smile. “Also I do hope you and my daughter can smooth things over,” she added that last part with a wink.

Button blushed and looked away.

“C-come on, let’s go anywhere I don’t have to talk about Tumble,” he said, walking out. The guys followed behind him and when they left, a familiar pegasus stepped into the room.

-Outside-

“Sorry about what happened to her shop,” Mike said to Button who was still trying not to think about Tumble.

“It’s fine, I still can’t believe you guys were able to do what you did back there,” he said in amazement. “If I didn’t know any better, you guys would already be top rank adventurers.”

“We’re still trying to get used to what we’re able to do,” Mathias added. “And, you know, try to learn what it is we can actually do.”

“Yeah, I haven’t seen anything this crazy after that last florida man tried to make a bomb threat in that one store,” Zander added.

“Florida man?” Button asked in confusion. “What is that?”

“It’s a hollow lifeform, something that exists but never truly lives,” Sam said, staring out into the distance. “I will not discuss this further with you, so that you may yet keep your sanity. Only darkness exists on the path… to Florida.”

Button blinked in confusion, turning to the others for any sign of help in understanding.

“Yeah, don’t try to make sense of it,” Matthias said. “Seriously, why’d you even bring that up? I know it’s crazy, but it has… literally nothing to do with anything.”

“Hey, the shop’s wall got blown open, someone made a bomb threat, they’re pretty similar!” Zander said.

“How about we just go home and try and rest for now?” Mike suggested. “It’s been a crazy day and we’re not sure when the girls will get back anyway.”

“True,” Mathias added.

“I don’t think I’ve been to your house,” Button Mash told them. “Is it alright if I check it out?”

“Yeah, absolutely!” Sam said, patting him on the back. “If we’re gonna help each other for that Adventurer’s License stuff then you’re going to need to show us exactly what we’re gonna work on.”

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“Like how much muscle definition you have, your endurance, stamina, things like that?” Mike added.

“Oh,” Button said with a downcast expression. “Uh, okay.”

“Okay then,” Mike said as he reached for the doorknob.

The moment Mike’s hand grasped it, the entire door fell off of its hinges, save for the knob which was still in Mike’s hand. Button peered inside and cringed, the sight of their home in such a state doing ill for his hopes.

“You guys… live here?”

“Hey, this place was decent before we got thrown into another universe,” Matt said.

“Not like we did much cleaning before anyways,” Zander said. “Besides, we can get it cleaned up while we’re studying for those exams.”

“I know we’re gonna need to renovate this entire place after what happened,” Mike followed up.

“Yeah, we’ll get right on that with all that money we don’t have,” Matthias said, rolling his eyes as Zander looked to the distance.

The guys walked inside, Mike throwing the door knob into a nearby trash can. Button followed, stepping over a broken fan and the door while Sam and Zander flipped the couch upright. They smacked the cushions, patting them for dust and debris while Mattias went to the kitchen.

“Oh great, of course it’s not running,” he said, holding the door up as the fridge was laid on its side. “Guess we’re not gonna have power anytime soon.”

“So we can scratch off salvaging any electronics,” Mike said, tapping his fingers along the wall. “Guess we should see what kind of books or… anything that doesn’t need electricity, find out what we’ve got left.”

“Meat’s out of the equation,” Matthias said, picking up a dripping bag from the toppled fridge. “Spent $60 on this pack of Filet Mignon to celebrate graduation, but no, can’t have nice things.”

“Wait, you guys had meat in here?” Button asked.

“We did, but with the power out and us freaking out, we didn’t pay it much attention,” Matthias added. “So we’ll have to throw this out and clean out whatever’s spoiled in the fridge.”

“... I think I know a place you could find some more. There’s some vendors in the Guild that have some stuff they hunted for bounties, you can get some variety there.”

“And, how do you know that?” Zander asked, shoving a broken shelf into the corner.

“I wanted to get to know the economics of how low-rank adventurers phase out of field missions, since most vendors tend to be retired around bronze or silver rank, and they make up nearly 70% of a Guild’s income during winter.”

“Well, guess we know why you haven’t passed the physical exam if you spend your time learning that,” Zander said, kicking the TV. “Fucking thing. Now we’re out God knows how much with this setup.”

“We’re not out anything, you stole that from your Ex’s boyfriend,” Matthias said.

“Oh, right,” Zander said, punching the TV off of the wall, making it smash into the remains of the coffee table.

“Smooth,” Mathias said, making Zander glare at him.

“Shut up.”

“Does your world not have magic?” Button Mash asked, getting the attention of the guys.

“Not really. In our world, it’s make believe,” Mike added. “Humanity has evolved with technology, to the point where we use rockets to go to the moon.”

“Wow, that’s… really?” Button said. “So are you guys space warriors?”

“Actually I don’t think we’ve sent a ship up there in decades,” Matthias said. “Pretty sure the last one was an unmanned drone.”

“And we’re not really warriors, just some college students who took a few jobs to make ends meet,” Mike said.

Button nodded solemnly before Sam came up and pat his shoulder.

“So, wanna check out the upstairs?” Sam asked.

“Uh… sure? What’s upstairs?”

“Just our bedrooms and personal stuff. Since we’re here, I kinda wanted to check if some of the stuff I’ve got can… let’s say, give us an edge.”

“What does that-”

Button was yanked up as Sam pulled him up the stairs, the colt tripping as he tried to avoid having his head bashed against the steps.

“And here we go,” Mike said with a sigh.

They went straight ahead when they reached the second floor, walking into a small room with several desks upturned, the floor coated in two thin layers of broken miniatures.

Sam stopped and frowned at the sight.

“Oh. Right.”

“So is this your room?” Button asked.

“Oh, yeah. I uh, spend most of my free time messing with my miniatures. It’s called Warhammer.”

“Warhammer?”

Sam opened a drawer and pulled out several tall, thin books with elaborate art on the cover, each one labelled as a, “Codex”.

“Been collecting them since I started making money in fights. Always wanted to try making full armies, but I don’t think I ever got more than a starter set for most of my factions. Which, now I guess I don’t have anything. Except these Codexes! And the datasheet cards.”

He started opening the sets after handing off a set of Codexes to Button. Curiosity sparked in his eyes as he opened up a Codex for the Orks. Art and images of miniatures were wrapped in massive blocks of text, and Button began to lose himself as he was enraptured with his readings. A page turned, then another, and soon he was flipping through the whole thing rapidly before he closed it.

“That… those things sound like one of the Tides from the Old Times,” Button said.

“Old Times and Tides?” Sam asked. “Is that some ancient history on stuff in Equestria’s past?”

Button didn’t answer, instead moving on to scan through a deck of datasheet cards, his eyes dancing from power to power.

“This… these are incredible! Such detailed workings on rare spells in such a concise and easy to replicate format! You could have entire tomes in these little things! And… let me try this.”

He put the card between his hands and held them together as though he were in a prayer. Closing his eyes, Button focused on the premise of the spell in the card, and channeled his magic into it. The card glowed as Button spoke muted words. A circle was cast around the room before everything became silent.

Sam’s mouth moved as though he were talking, yet no noise was made. Button opened his eyes to see that Sam was yelling, but he couldn’t hear anything. The colt picked up a glass cup and let it drop to the floor. It shattered, yet it made no sound. Button’s face burst into a smile as he apparently cheered, jumping as he hugged Sam.

The ring of magic faded away as sound returned to the two.

“I did it! I cast a spell! I can’t believe it!”

“Oh thank God I thought I was deaf!” Sam said. “Wait, you cast that spell?”

“Yeah! I read it off the card and suddenly I felt as if I should know how to cast it. It’s like… have you ever felt like you forgot something and then when you read about it in passing you remember everything related to it?”

Sam blinked.

“Let’s go with yes.”

“It’s like that. I read the magic in the cards and suddenly I, ‘remembered’ how to cast it. This is amazing! Whatever magic’s in these cards could revolutionize everything we know about-” Button stopped when he saw the card in his hand was burned to a crisp. “Oh. Or they could be a one-time use item.”

Sam dropped the deck he was holding.

“Did… did casting that just burn my card?”

“Sam, I-I’m so sorry, I had no idea that-”

“Hey, hey hey!” Sam said, putting a finger to Button’s lips. “Shhhhh.. It’s fine. I have plenty more. If you want, you can have them.”

“Wait… really? I can keep these!?”

“And the codexes, since they also have datasheets on abilities and Psyker powers.”

“... Is, is there a catch?”

“You still have to help us study for the written tests, and you have to pass your physical without them.”

Button looked between the decks and Sam.

“So I need to prove that I’m worthy of them?”

“Everything except the Daemon and Chaos Space Marine cards.”

“The WHAT!?” he screamed, throwing them at the ground.

“Calm down! We’ve been here a few hours, if Chaos hasn’t used the codex and cards as anchors yet, I think it’s safe to say they’re inert while no one’s channeling magic through them.”

“I guess that’s a good thing,” Button Mash said with a sigh. “Should you at least lock those up just in case?”

“Yeah, probably.”

Button walked outside the room as Sam took the cards and laid them on the ground. He flipped up his mattress and opened a zipper, where he was also hiding his passport, birth certificate, social security card and around $33,000 USD.

“Huh. Why do I keep forgetting that? Oh well, not going to be of much use here,” he said, stuffing the Chaos Codexes and datasheet cards into the mattress.

He caught up with Button and they both went downstairs, Sam jumping down to the floor.

“Hey guys, my Warhammer cards make real magic!” he said.

“Okay Sam, don’t joke around,” Mike said, pretty skeptical of the thing. “I doubt bringing Earth bound items would trigger magical effects.”

“He’s telling the truth,” Button said as he walked forward with one of the cards in hand. “I spoke into one of the cards earlier and triggered a spell, but after that happened it burned up and turned to ash.”

“Yeah, sure,” Mike added. “Anyways, can you at least lift your shirt?”

“Wait why?”

“Like I said, we need to see what muscle definition we’re working with so we can help you out with your physical.”

“Oh, right,” He said with a nervous glance. Button decides to lift his shirt and shows the guys what he had as far as muscle definition goes. That saw that he was pretty thin in the muscle department and Mike sighed. “Well?”

“We got a lot of work ahead of us to help you out kid,” Mike added with a sigh.

“Of course, it’s also about technique and skill,” Zander said, flipping out his knife. “Don’t always need to be stronger, just quicker and smarter. Pretty sure you’ll get the last one down faster than the others.”

“Plus we can be creative with our training to help you out,” Matthias added.

“So how long do we have to help you improve?”

“Uh… about a week?”

The guys were silent before Zander laughed, leaning over to smack his knee.

“Woo! Ah, man, you’re fucked.”

“Hey, we can make some progress!” Sam said. “It’s not like he’s starting from square one, he just needs some… encouragement, you know?”

“Yeah, well, we’ll see how much encouragement it takes before he passes out from exhaustion,” Zander said, walking to the garage door. “I’ll set up some stuff for our workout.”

“I’m going to go outside and see if the house is going to keep standing or if we need to move everything out,” Mike said, grabbing his copies of the house plans he kept in the shoe closet.

“And… I guess I’ll just throw everything out before the place smells,” Matthias said, shovelling the fridge’s contents into a trashcan.

Button sighed as he sat down, his face in his hands.

“What’s the point? It’s not like you guys helping is gonna change anything. I should have just given up and told mom years ago.”

Sam’s face softened at Button’s words. He reached to pat his back before he withdrew his hand, a steely sheen stiffening his features. He disappeared into the kitchen and went through the drawers before pulling out his desired object, returning to Button.

“Button.”

The colt looked up to see Sam wielding a knife, small and only slightly sharpened.

“Uh, what are you-”

Sam moved the knife into his other hand blade-first, striking his palm with the serrated edge. It scraped off of his scales and the two blinked.

“Oh. Shit. Forgot about that,” Sam said before taking the knife to his cheek, cupping his hand to lather it in blood.

“Is, is this a Bloodpact!?” Button said, shock apparent on his face.

“Kinda? Look, when I met the guys, I swore I’d do everything I could to help them run this place. Ever since then, we’ve always made rent, even when I had to challenge our Landlord in a boxing match. I swore to them with this little gesture here, that I’d always be there for them.”

“And… they let you cut their hands too?”

“I mean… no, but they said they appreciated it. And I want you to know, I’m promising you, right here and now, that I’m going to do everything I can to help you make yourself into the hero you want to be.” He reached out his bloodied palm to Button. “Deal?”

Button looked between the strained smile on Sam’s bleeding face and the hand being offered to him. A stranger he’d only met today was willing to bleed for his future, and vowed to help him no matter what. Button’s eyes flashed to the knife and he snatched it from Sam’s hand before he held it in front of him. His mind raced as he slowly drew the blade across his own palm, hissing as it cut him open. Turning to Sam, Button smiled as he slammed his palm against Sam’s own bloody grasp, both of them squeezing their grip as blood dripped to the floor.

“Deal,” Button said, hugging Sam.

While the two hugged it out, neither of them noticed either Sam’s medallion glowing or Button’s shoulder glowing in the identical spot, magic coursing through the colt’s blood as the Blood Oath was officiated.

Chapter 9

View Online

Upon the shining mountains of Canter Range, there sat a golden city of near limitless wealth and power. Canterlot, the capital city of Equestria and seat of power to the most valiant warriors in the world. Streets lined with marble, mansions of decadent masonry, all visions of beauty and wonder paled in comparison to the sight of the Grand Palace.

At the point where the city’s levelled foundation met the slope of the mountain the Palace stood proudly, its white exterior a stark contrast from the purple mountain’s majesty. Gold and blue banners flew from every alternating spire and watchpost across its entirety, and though it may appear as a delightful spot for visiting, the state of the world forced it into a fortress rendered unbreakable.

Inside, in the highest chamber of the main tower, two alicorns conversed. Though a rare sight, alicorns would be on their own, all instances of the mythical ponies were naught but foals against the mighty Avatars of Sol and Artemis. The two were beacons of pure, unbridled might, unmatched in combat as they were in looks.

The Avatar of Sol stood at a towering 9 feet and 8 inches tall, not counting her giant horn. Her alabaster fur was the pinnacle of what one thought of when the word, ‘perfection’ was uttered. Her mane and tail flowed on an immaterial breeze, four colors streaking through them. She wore more regal attire, a band of gold around her neck with two red ribbons falling over her KK-cup breasts, golden plates that shaped to her Sun mark resting over her nipples, just enough to cover them entirely. Across her hips was a thin string of gold chain, keeping a long red loincloth over her mare-bits, nearly reaching the floor. Her legs were clad in orange stockings with gold bands strapped to her thighs, resting just beneath the Sun Cutie Mark that dominated her gigantic flank.

“Sister, are you sure it’s safe to go out that far?” the Avatar of Sol asked. “If you encounter trouble I won’t be able to help.”

Her sister, Avatar of Artemis, stood at an impressive 8 feet and 9 inches. Her dark blue fur was contrasted only by her lighter blue mane and tail, the former of which darkened into a vast expanse of stars when one peered within, as if to show her might of the infinite expanse itself. She was clad in armor, black as the night itself, with sharp shoulder pauldrons lined with sapphires locked on. She also slipped on a pair of ebony gauntlets and shin-guards, the crescent Moon edged into a metallic prong at the ends to pinch or stab into whoever dared engage with her. Her large JJ-cup breasts were propped up by a pair of crescent Moon shaped plates of White Iron, an enchanted set that stuck to her chest without support of any kind, her lower half protected by a chainmail skirt.

“Tia, I’ll be fine, I promise,” the Avatar of Artemis said. “It may have been a few decades since I’ve last fought in close by myself, but I assure you I’m more than capable of completing a scouting mission.”

“I know, Lulu, but it’s been days since we’ve heard back from Cadance, and even longer since anypony’s heard from the Changelings or Shadow Ponies. My last contact suspects that it might have to do with a tomb that was uncovered mere weeks ago. It can’t be a coincidence.”

“It also can’t be a coincidence if a member of the Artemis Pact happens to be lost mid-ritual in what was supposed to be one of the most important preparations in recent years.”

The two were silent for a second.

“You felt them, didn’t you?” Celestia asked, her magenta eyes watering. “The Guardian Lords summoned them.”

“I…” Luna sighed as she nodded. “I am aware. It was one of the matters we were discussing in the Pact before Sister Cherry was taken from the meeting. I have no doubt in my mind the two are connected, and if our luck with Guardians’ chosen is anything to go by, the tomb is connected somehow.”

“Then you know it’s foalish to go alone before we find the Heroes.”

“I know how ridiculous it sounds, but I made a promise to the Pact Sisters,” Luna said, taking a halberd off of the wall, polishing its moon-shaped blade. “Despite my worries, I have to see if she’s alive or captured. In the event of a Daemon incursion, I’ll hurry back here as soon as I can salt the land between here and there. If she’s been possessed, I have a duty to kill her before her soul can be taken, lest whatever foul machinations of the immaterium get its abominable grasp on a link to Artemis.”

“Aunties?”

The two titanic alicorns turned to see two much younger alicorns standing in the doorway. Both were five years old, twins at that. The fillies were looking upon the royals with great worry, clearly only recently awoken.

“What’s Auntie Luna doing?” Skyla asked, the dark pink alicorn filly rubbing her eyes.

“And why are you fighting, Aunt Celestia?” the bright pink filly said, her blue and purple mane frazzled and bouncing as she swapped hooves.

“Young filly, did you get lost looking for the bathroom?” Celestia asked with a chipper tone, bending over to talk to them.

“Yes auntie,” Flurry Heart said, jumping in place.

“She woke me ‘cause she’s ‘fraid of the dark,” Skyla yawned, her dark pink coat and pink and yellow mane being frazzled as she struggled to keep her eyes open.

“I don’t wanna be alone!” Flurry protested, ready to cry.

“Oh, don’t worry, I’ll take you both and bring you back to bed, alright?” she said, taking their hands as her horn glowed.

’Just a scouting mission, right?’ Celestia asked, echoing in Luna’s head as she walked out of the room.

‘Indeed,’ Luna thought back. ‘I’ll be back before they wake up again.’

The Queen of the Night extended her wings and took off the balcony, fading into the dark skies above.

\\\\\\//////

Hallowed Hopes was a decent town, all things considered. Being a midway between the Crystal Empire and literally the entirety of Equestria, it was a popular enough spot that several significant buildings were erected in only a short amount of time. A train station had only recently been finished months ago, promoting more trade between the Empire and Equestria, though it stood abandoned at the moment. Different Guilds and gathering hubs sold various goods and foodstuffs for all kinds of races, and yet they too were empty. Due to the city’s lack of air pollution with the frigid winds rolling over the town, a temple dedicated to Artemis had been constructed as well in the city’s center. The hallowed ground of the Night God’s temple held an observatory, frequently used by astronomers and worshippers alike, the black building stood out like an imposing figure among lesser peers. Yet it too was empty, left to air out.

“What… what is going on here?” Luna asked aloud, an armored hoof taking place on the temple’s archway.

She came in hopes of finding either Sister Cherry Blossom of the temple or some clues as to what might be transpiring in the Empire, yet there wasn’t a creature in sight. Strangely enough, the only thing she could see occupying the town was a strange purple fog.

“That can’t be a coincidence,” the Avatar of Artemis said, spinning her halberd.

Jumping down, she shivered as the warm mist rolled up her legs. She flicked her tail to bat it off before she walked down the streets. The fog thickened as she approached the town square, and she found herself covering her mouth and nose in precaution.

“I should leave,” she said. “I need to warn Celestia and the others of this fog, it could be a sign of something terrible.”

Something in the distance clattered. It was the first noise Luna had heard that wasn’t crickets since she had arrived, and the moment she heard it her ears swivelled about.

“HELLO!?” she said, her Royal Voice carrying through the town. “IS ANYPONY HERE!?”

Another sound, something metallic clanging against a wall in the distance. Luna ran, her ears locked onto the source. Her hooves pounded the dirt, kicking it up as she made way for the source. Through the fog, she could see a figure, a stallion, walking with one hand against the wall. He was limping, and it looked as if he was holding something in his other hand.

“You there, sir!” she said, approaching. “Are you alright? Can you comprehend my voice?”

The stallion didn’t respond, his right arm making strange motions as he leaned on the wall.

“I am trying to find out what happened here, please be cooperative and come with me.”

The stallion turned, and Luna blushed. He was jacking off, stroking his dick furiously as he turned to meet her gaze.

“Mmm, p-pretty,” he moaned, ejaculating into the street.

“Wha- what is the meaning of this!?” she screamed. “Are you some pervert, wanking about like this!? There could be foals in these homes, and-”

He lunged for her, his hands reaching for her large chest. Queen Luna was quicker than his lust-crazed charge, however, and she managed to sidestep him and used her halberd’s pole to trip him up. She jabbed him in the back of his head with her weapon’s blunt end, making sure to hold back on the strike.

“You dare assault the Queen of the Night like this!? You’re lucky I don’t take your head from your neck!”

“Ah~n!”

Luna blinked and looked behind her, where the stallion was looking off to. Her face reddened when she saw the massive orgy that the stallion was now clearly masturbating to.

Changelings, ponies, griffons and even yaks were all participating in ravage fucking across the town square. A green mare was getting railed between a Griffon and a Yak, the large bovine taking her ass while she was choking on the Griffon, furiously fingering herself. A large Yak female was clenching her thighs around a Changeling’s head, forcing her into her hairy crotch while fellating a couple of Changeling males. Another Griffon male was on his knees, servicing a pony and Changeling stallion with each claw while a pair of Griffon hens were rubbing their pussies together, sitting on the edge of a fountain.

“What… what debauchery is… no,” Luna gasped, stepping back from the sudden mass orgy she was witnessing. “What is going on?”

“I see that one of our guests of honor has arrived,” a female voice called out. Luna took a battle stance, pointing her halberd to where the voice came from.

“Who's there?” Luna said as she pointed her halberd towards the shadowy figure. “Are you the one who caused this travesty?”

“Aw, is that any way to treat your family, Lulu?” the female said, confusing the blue mare.

A figure slowly approached through the fog, but she could only make out a shadow that was slowly walking towards her. Breaking through the fog was a tall, dark pink figure with a bouncing mane and tail, each colored yellow, pink and purple. The glow of slit eyes cut through the dark of the night, pink light framing the evil grin on the mare’s face as she strut forth. She wore nothing that properly covered her massive assets, her tits held in a translucent hammock bra that showed her nipples through the thin fabric, a belt of white chain around her hips that bled purple mist, dissipating before it could even cover anything below the waist. Her Cutie Mark was a morphed thing, what was once a blue symbol of the Crystal Heart was now a blackened shape, cracked in half. Around her neck was a white necklace with an emerald in the center, a baleful light stinging the Night Queen’s eyes.

“Cadance!?” Luna shouted, stepping back. “What… what happened to you? Don’t tell me-”

“My new master blessed me with this wondrous form!” she said, jiggling her chest. “He’s endowed me with the power to spread so much love, just as easily as my followers can spread their legs.”

Around her, different possessed citizens closed in, the Princess of the Night swinging her staff into a defensive position.

“Cadance, stand down and make them relent in their coitous,” Luna said cautiously. “You know not of the powers they’re evoking, or what will become of you!”

“All I know is that I’ve never been more satisfied, physically or spiritually, until I met my true King! At any moment, a hand, tongue or cock could aid my aches, and leave me with unending bliss. Do you know how it feels, to give yourself up to such an endless bounty of pleasure?” Cadance asked, her fingers digging down and spreading her pussy.

Luna gulped as she stepped back from the growing crowd, her halberd shaking in her clutches as memories from thousands of years ago resurfaced.

“I… I am all too familiar with the feelings,” the Night Queen admitted, blushing. “But you cannot fall for the trickery we’ve-”

Two pairs of arms reached from behind her, grasping at her chest. Luna screamed as she swung the halberd backwards, but a discus soared through the air, knocking the polearm out of her hand. Stumbling into the grips of the two stallions from behind, a chill ran through her fur as they popped her tit-plates off.

Recovering out of her stumble, Luna covered her chest as she scrambled to get away from the possessed males who stripped her, both the Yak and pony sniffing her armor’s interior as they jacked off.

’This is bad! I need to warn Celestia!’ Luna thought.

Spreading her wings, she took to the sky in one great flap. Before she could even clear the rooftops, a Changeling and two Pegasi slammed into her, one of the winged ponies going so far as to shove their tongue into Luna’s mouth. Chaos poured into her maw as the Pegasus moaned, the spice of it making Luna’s pussy quiver as she nearly came then and there. As they crashed into the ground, Luna pushed the pegasus mare off of her chest, kicking the other two as they ripped her leggings off. The familiar Pegasus laughed as she stood up, her red coat offset by her blonde mane and tail, sapphire piercings hanging from her nipples in the shape of a crescent moon.

“C-Cherry Blossom!?” Luna gasped.

Spitting into the dirt, Luna could feel her body’s magic heat up with the Chaos the kiss was infused with. If she were to leave now, she’d likely spread it to Canterlot, and her body began to change. Her nipples stood rigid and hard against the cold of the night air, and her panties were starting to moisten as she crawled backwards.

“Just give it up, Avatar of Artemis,” Cherry said in a two-toned voice. “You’ve already lost this battle. Now come back to me.”

The familiar tone of the echo struck a deep chord in Luna’s soul, a taint so ancient and primordial that just the faintest plucking of it nearly drove her to orgasm right there. A pair of hands grabbed either of her fat breasts, two Griffons coming to roost upon her chest. They licked and nipped her dark blue nipples while kneading her dougy flesh, driving Luna along the edge. Another set of hands gripped her chainmail skirt, snapping it open as the Pegasus smiled at her.

”There’s no need to resist, my darling little toy,” Cherry Blossom spoke with Cosmos’ voice. ”Just lay back, and let us reunite.”

“M-Mistress~,” Luna moaned, her legs spreading of their own accord.

Cherry tossed her skirt aside and knelt down to face Luna’s crotch. She started massaging the Queen’s thighs and licked her pussy, Luna shaking with every subtle touch of the possessed mare’s tongue.

Luna’s arms went back, her hands grasping her scalp through her luscious mane as she moaned and screamed. Her eyes opened as Chaos surged through her body, the warmth of its embrace rising from her crotch through her tits and flooding her mind with numbing pleasure. Dangling overhead was a barbed Griffon cock, the grey felinid huffing as he jerked his meat over the Night Lord’s face. Her sense overwhelmed with pleasure, the possessed Luna’s eyes glowed and thinned to slits as she reached up to his hips. She pulled him down and gobbled his cock halfway, swallowing the first four inches in a breath before he pulled his clawed hand away to lean on the ground, letting her swallow the other half of his shaft. Her tongue reached out and licked at his knotted base, wrapping around it and slurping it as though she were eating an ice-cream cone in reverse. The Griffon started thrusting his hips, smacking his nuts into her nose while his hands landed on her shoulders, gripping her plates before tearing them off so he could hold on and fuck her. As the Griffon gave Luna a thorough face fucking, Cherry’s body dove her tongue into Luna’s snatch, purple magic overtaking the muscle as it expanded and forked at the tip, plundering the Queen’s cavern as her legs wrapped around Cherry’s head.

Cadance watched with glee as her Aunt was overtaken by the influence of Cosmos, happily jerking the cocks of two Yaks standing on either side of her while a mare ate her out below.

“Nf, yes! Chug that bird’s pecker!” Cadance said.

Above them, a red cloaked body descended, his tall frame surrounded in purple haze. Opening his robes partly, a thin tentacle reached out to Cadance, sliding down her mouth as two more flew to her tits. His tentacles unclipped the see-through bra before they started massaging her breasts, the thickest one thundering down her throat as she choked out pleads of joy. After a few thrusts, the tentacle bulged as it shot a load of steaming cum into Cadance’s mouth. She swallowed greedily as her nipples leaked, her milk tinted a light pink as it sloshed with Chaos.

“I see you’ve made quite a catch, Heart Breaker,” King Danse said, hovering down to her level.

“Mm! Th-thank you, my Lord,” Cadance moaned, bowing as she wiggled her ass at him.

“In due time I’ll have you properly,” he said, waving a hand over her. “For now, we’ve an Avatar to claim. Bring her here.”

Cadance nodded before she pointed at the Queen of the Night. Snapping her fingers, she managed to make the Griffon cum, the young rooster slamming his knot into Luna’s face as he unloaded his meek spurts. Luna swallowed them greedily, slurping his softening meat and whimpering as her cock holster was left unattended. Looking past the Griffon, her eyes widened in awe as she saw the King hovering above Cadance, the younger Alicorn’s teats dripping with freshly tainted milk. All of the creatures piling on Luna came and fell off of her, the possessed Cherry falling limply as her eyes fluttered, her mortal shell wracked by a deific orgasm.

Crawling up to her niece, Luna lolled her tongue out as she sat up on her knees. No words were spoken as she huffed, making motions with her tongue to silently beg to be fucked. King Danse chuckled as he nodded to her, floating around her as his robes finally fell from his shoulders.

“With my physical form finally anchored, I can make you the obedient little slut you are,” Danse said.

His torso was much like his face, pale skin with a fair amount of muscle definition. His lower half, however, didn’t match his torso at all. Morphing at his waistline was seven feet of red tentacles, a total of sixteen spasming limbs that writhed with putrid muscle and ambient Chaos, a burning medallion of a Kraken sitting below his navel. There were no suckers on any surface of his tentacles, only slight bumps, warts and ridges as they thinned out towards the elongated tips. The frontmost tentacles parted as he allowed his erection to grow, sixteen inches of violently red flesh, four inches thick, spiked with dozens of pointed bumps and ending with a spherical tip, the monstrous cock twitched and pulsed. Chaos coursed through its veins, the warped thing wafting pink smog from its leaking tip as it slowly approached the Queen’s behind.

Luna leaned forwards, planting her hands on the ground as she raised her rear for her new master, flagging her tail aside as Cadance sat down in front of her. The Avatar of Artemis buried her face in the pink furred tits, inhaling her niece’s scent while daring to lick the valley of sweaty cleavage. Cadance moaned as her Aunt eventually found a nipple, only using her mouth to suckle at the corrupted substance within.

Danse’s hands landed on Luna’s Cutie Marks, the edges of her black-patched flanks expanding at his touch. The inky scar of Chaos expanded over Luna’s body as the King pressed the tip of his cock to Luna’s pussy before he plunged in, diving six inches before he met resistance.

Luna would have screamed if her mouth wasn’t filled with corrupted milk, and she didn’t dare to waste a single drop of the addictive ambrosia. Cadance ran her hands through Luna’s mane, encouraging the mare to withstand the beating her cunt received from the King.

The orb of his flaring tip smashed into the entrance of her womb, making Luna quiver as her elbows weakened. After a rough slam from the King, Luna fell forward, tumbling Cadance to the ground as she finally groped the younger Alicorn’s chest. Cadance screamed as she felt a pair of tentacles burrow into her own pussy, and though they weren’t as impressive as her Master’s cock, they still granted her pleasure beyond any mortal stallion’s capability. The inky mark from Luna’s Cutie Mark encompassed her chest now, her nipples darkening from a navy blue to purple as the corruption finally reached her neck, her Cutie Mark’s original stain turned purple from the primordial power that surged through her. King Danse squeezed her ass as he dug his cock deep within before a spout of pink cum shot into her pussy.

The overloading sensation of Chaos flooding her intimate canal of love drove the Queen of the Night over the edge, and Nightmare Moon screamed as the last patch of uncorrupted fur was swallowed whole. Her nipples sprayed white milk all over Cadance’s stomach as the younger Alicorn came as well, her orgasm prolonged as pink cum dripped from Moon’s cunt right onto her clit. The mares spasmed as their climaxes entwined their magic with pure Chaos, turning the mighty champions into puppets for the Goddesses themselves.

Chapter 10

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Button huffed as he dropped his mace to the ground, falling back onto his plot. Coated in sweat, the colt wiped his face with his wrists while Zander stepped up to him. Both warriors were shirtless, fighting in a dirt pit a few dozen meters from an inn outside of Ponyville.

“Dude, that was a good fight,” he said, his chest sporting a large bruise where Button struck. “Thought I was done for.”

“Until… I messed up, and swung too low,” Button said between breaths.

“Hey, we’re both learning here, alright? You’re learning how to fight, and I’m learning that I can apparently jump clean over people. And, well, this too,” he said, motioning to his bare chest.

Button watched as the bruise slowly faded from Zander’s chest, his wound healed completely within seconds. Zander brushed his chest off with a smirk before he reached a hand to Button. The colt took his hand and was helped up to his hooves.

The week had been a rough one for both the men lost from their world, and even Button. Enduring the different types of training they dished out had taken a toll on the brown colt, but he’d pulled through better for it, mentally and quite noticeably physically. Since starting their training, Button had grown six inches taller, his shoulders had widened and thickened, and it was clear that he had gained a decent amount of muscle beneath his fur, his pecs and biceps shaping his torso.

“Alright, let’s go, your mom’s gonna kill us if we miss another meal.”

Zander motioned for Button to follow and they marched back to his house. They were walking back to his home and saw a group of five mares walking through the town towards the adventurers guild. They looked like they'd been through Tartarus, as some of them had torn armor, or were walking around bottomless, or topless. Some of their weapons were destroyed or damaged, had cuts, bruises, and one mare even had an arm missing as she was bleeding through a wrapped stump where her shoulder should be.

“Jesus christ, what the hell happened to them?” Zander asked in shock.

“Guess they were in the Everfree hunting something big,” Button said. “Could have been a Manticore, a Cragadile or even a Hydra, who knows? Don’t think we should bother them.”

From the house, Button’s mom came rushing out to meet the adventurers.

“Goodness, what did you run into?” she asked, stripping her dented steel gloves.

“We… w-we were fighting, a group of Manticores,” a red and yellow mare said, limping. “The pride got too close to a farm down South… we thought, ah, that there’d just be the Manticores, but there were Goblins with the fucking things, riding them like mounts! Had to leave half of our camp back there, Cookie Cutter got surprised by one of the mounts. Got her arm, and we ran.”

“Sol above, did you cover your trail?” Cream Hearts asked, her hands glowing as she tended to the amputee.

“Don’t know, it’s all a haze,” a green Pegasus said. “They might have been behind us when we got out of the forest, but we’ve been on the road for half an hour. Haven’t heard or seen one of the things since.”

“Alright, I’m taking Cookie here to the hospital. Can the rest of you make it on your own or do you need to rest here?”

“I’ll be fine,” the pegasus said. “Just get her some help, please.”

The other mares nodded as they urged Cream to take Cookie away. The former Paladin helped Cookie lay on the ground and knelt over her, clasping her hands in prayer. A golden circle burned into the grass, surrounding the two mares before a blinding flash consumed them, leaving a burnt layer of glass where they were.

Button approached the mares and waved them down.

“Excuse me!” he called out. “Do you need to rest up? We’ve got plenty of beds open!”

The mares turned to see Button and Zander walking up to them and the red and yellow Earth Pony responded first.

“We could… yeah, we could use some rest. Think we’re all a bit weary after that whole thing. Name’s Pepper. This is Bush, Tough Luck and Iron Core,” she said, pointing to the green Pegasus, a bronze and silver Unicorn and a grey and gold Earth Pony.

Button waved and nodded as Zander let his eyes wander. They were all sporting cuts and bruises, and Pepper was limping to keep up with the group and Button. He nearly tripped over himself when he tried to avoid the puddle of Cookie’s blood, but managed to recover and caught up with the last mare in line, Tough Luck.

“Hey, uh, sorry about what happened to you guys,” Zander said.

The mare glanced back at him and glared.

“I don’t need pity from a weird thing like you, alright?” she sneered. “I just need to rest. I’m done with this shit, I can’t… just go away.”

Zander glared at the mare but held his tongue, considering that she’d seen her friend dismembered. They followed along to the inn Cream Hearts’ husband ran, with the stallion walking out to meet the group. He was about as tall as Zander, with brown fur and a deep blue mane. He wore a white button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, black pants and was stained with splatterings of food.

“Sorry to see you all have a horrible trip. But, wait… wasn’t there another stallion with you?” he asked.

The mares looked to the ground as they tried to walk past them, tears flowing from Iron Core’s chin as she choked back a sob.

“Colteater plants caught him while he was casting Homeward Bound,” Bush said. “We couldn’t pull him out in time.”

The mares walked inside as Button’s father closed the door behind them. Button and Zander stood there, Button solemn in his stillness and Zander shocked.

“Holy shit, dude,” he said. “The Hell happened?”

“Like I said, Everfree. It’s not a place that anypony can just walk through. Plants can gobble you up, Goblins can steal your stuff or kill you in your sleep, not to mention the different kinds of monsters that live in there too.”

“Why the fuck would anyone even go in there then? Just wall the thing off or burn it down, I say.”

“It’s not that easy,” Button said, his voice hushing as he got closer to Zander. “The place is rife with Chaos magic, and I mean everything in it. The plants are practically sapient, as if the entire thing’s an extension of Their will. Wall it off, it grows inside the walls and makes them tumble/ Burn it down, it lets out spores by the millions and seeds even farther out, and sometimes those spores can make plants grow inside ponies who breathe it in. It’s constantly expanding, inch by inch every few days. The best we can do is go in there and root out some problem creatures and make them relocate farther South, but even then… well, you saw what happened,” Button finished, waving at the door.

“Fuck, man. Thought this place was a nice and sexy paradise and then this shit happens?” Zander said, shaking his head.

“Yeah, I’ve seen how you’ve been looking at those mares that come and go around here, and I think this is Sol and Artemis’ means of telling you to knock it off. I’m sorry, but you came here with a magic medallion that lets you transform and heal, and that means you’re supposed to do something more important than sitting here and eyeing mares all the time.”

Zander nodded as he turned away from Button.

“I get it, dude, I get it. Just… I gotta take a walk.”

Zander wandered off and around the inn’s exterior. Looking out over the distance, the greenery of the forest hummed with a dark aura as the wind swept leaves around. In some of the bushes, Zander could see movement, small forms pattering back and forth.

‘Guess this place is a lot more serious than we thought,’[/] he thought. ‘If we’d ended up anywhere else, who knows what would’ve happened. We could be gutted by Goblins, or eaten by some kind of monster. Jesus, there was so much blood… Glad we woke up here, we’d have been fucked otherwise. If we screwed up back home, I’d be put on probation or something, but here, we could actually fucking die.’

Behind the inn, he saw a pair of white scaled legs sticking out from the dirt, a tail thrashing around.

“Sam?” he called out.

The legs and tail swung around, the clawed end of the tail scooping up a patch of dirt and throwing it at Zander, though it fell short by a foot or two.

“Alright, alright, I’m coming!”

Zander walked up and smacked Sam’s legs to get him to stop. Once he ceased flailing, Sam straightened his legs out and Zander grabbed him by the ankles. He pulled with all of his might until the dragonman popped out like a carrot. He coughed and spit up some dirt before he flipped over, laying on his back.

“Wow… she can kick really hard,” Sam gasped.

“Dude, did Button’s mom do this to you?”

“Uh… yeah, yeah she kinda got carried away, but I think I’m alright. Just gotta wash the dirt out of my everything.” He said, while trying to rub some dirt off. “When you and Button went off to train, Mrs. Heart wanted us to practice our magic and stuff. Mike went off to shoot some birds and I think Matt took that as an insult, so he went inside with some books and hasn’t come out since.”

“And you were buried because of what again?”

“She wanted me to show her my fire control, you know, since I’m a dragon and stuff, but I don’t know how to do that. I told her, and she said that a dragon’s fire usually flares up when they’re in danger, so she beat me up to try and get me to, uh… ‘ignite’, she called it. Long story short, I didn’t light up so she got serious, and I turned into a statue for a bit.”

“So Mike and Matt are practicing their stuff too?”

“Yeah, Mike’s been doing really well with his Ghost gun. He’s trying to do some spinning things with it, but he shot Mrs. Heart’s bra off by accident, so he’s trying to avoid her for now. Matthias set some things on fire and then froze them to put it out, but when he figured out how to undo both, he kind of… that,” Sam said, pointing behind Zander.

He turned around to see a tool shed blown open, with the roof stuck on the roof of the inn and the walls littered across a garden.

“Jeez… real good thing we didn’t start off in the forest,” Zander said.

“Yeah, this has been pretty fun. So, what’s up?”

“Nothing, just a lot on my mind,” Zander said. “I’m starting to think this world isn’t just all sunshine and rainbows.”

“Well. yeah, there’s unicorns too,” Sam added. “And Minotaurs, pegasi, griffons, it’s a pretty wild place.”

“That's not what I mean,” Zander said in annoyance. “When I was on my way back with Button, I saw some of the adventurers look pretty beat up, and one of them had an arm missing,”

“Isn't that like a lot of adventure games back home?” Sam asked him.

“Point is, I need to think about what I say when I meet someone,” Zander said. “I think we all should.”

“I guess,” Sam said with a sigh. “Why don’t we see how the guys are doing right now? I need to clean myself off.”

“Sure,” Zander added as he got up and walked with Sam. “So where are Mike and Mathias anyways?”

“Right now, they’re both currently at the archery range,” Sam said as he pointed towards the archery range that was a good distance away from the inn. “Let’s go see how they’re doing.”

\\\\\\//////

Matthias thrust his hands out, one holding a red rune and the other holding a blue circle. From the circles launched a series of red and blue bolts. The red ones impacted and burst into flames on contact, the blue ones exploding into a fizz of electricity. They scattered around the targets, only one or two of the twelve shots actually hitting a target while the rest dotted the floor. While he growled at the spell’s randomness, Mike spun his Silver Ghost around his finger before he held it up, firing six shots from the hip. One shot landed on an inner ring of a target, two more grazed the edges of their targets, and the other three missed entirely, kicking up dirt and hay.

“Ugh, this is hopeless!” Matthias said, punching his book. “Why can’t these damn things shoot straight!?”

“Not everyone gets it on the first day,” Mike said as he reloaded. “I’m still trying to get used to the kick back this thing gives off. Not to mention the heat it gives off from each shot.”

Mike took a rock and slid it into the chamber, sliding it back into the gun as he took a hip-firing stance once more.

“Yeah yeah, I get it,” Matthias said, magic circling his hands once more.

They fired simultaneously, four shots ringing from Silver Ghost while Matt pelted the field with arcane fire. The last two shots each of them fired, however, smacked into one another mid-air. They burst apart, sending the heated pebbles flying into a shield laying against a log. Soaring past the two, Mike and Matt heard screaming from the bullets’ direction.

“Watch where you fucking aim!” Zander yelled in annoyance.

“Geez, I thought my head was gonna get blown off,” Sam added.

“Shit, you guys alright?” Matthias said as he and Mike rushed over to them.

“It wasn’t on purpose,” Mike said. “Our shots bounced off of one another.”

“Take turns then! Could have fucking killed me!”

“Well, that tickled,” Sam said, prying the bullet off of his chest. “How durable am I?”

“Dragon scales are incredibly dense,” Mathias brought up. “We can worry about that later, we’re still trying to learn how to use our skills.”

“Well try to not kill us with them! Fuck, why the Hell were we the ones given this kind of power?”

“Yeah, I mean, I’m pretty sure we’re the last people who should have gotten this sort of stuff,” Sam said. “I broke a lot of pots in their inn when I figured out how to move my tail.”

“That reminds me, how’d training with Cream Heart go?” Mike asked. “Last I checked I saw you flying backwards over our heads.”

“Got buried for a few minutes, but she left to help some mare who lost an arm.”

“Wait, lost an arm!?” Matt said in a panic. “Wha- how the Hell did that happen!?”

“They went into that forest and got ambushed. Said that they lost a guy from their team too,” Zander said, pointing at the Everfree.

Matthias started to breathe erratically and sat down, leaning against a barrel as he strained his hands through his hair.

“I thought… I just thought this was some kind of weird sex-crazed world, and now you’re telling me that we could actually, legitimately fucking die!?”

“... yeah, yeah we can die, Matt,” Zander said. “I saw them when they came in, they’re inside now and they’re… kinda fucked up. Don’t bother them with petty shit,” he said, emphasizing his last words while staring at Sam.

Sam looked away and Mike set down his revolver, leaning on another barrel.

“We can die, but we’re gonna be careful, right?” Mike said. “We’ve played plenty of games, seen plenty of stuff in books and movies. We know the cliches and how things like this work, so-”

“We’re not in a game! We’re not in a movie, fuck we’re probably not even in a decent book!” Matthias said, pounding a fist into the side of his barrel. “We have no idea what we’re doing, we have no idea what we should do, everyone who could help is too busy to give a shit and we’re a liability to whoever’s dumb enough to take us in!”

“Yeah, you might be but I actually know how to fight!” Zander said. “I told you to learn how to use a knife and get into a scrape or two to learn, even offered to teach you some stuff myself! But nooo, you’re too good for that!”

“Because I didn’t need to learn about how to fight like some wannabe gangster!”

CRACK

“SHUT UP!”

They stopped their yelling and looked at Sam, whose tail had gripped a log and splintered it. His face was etched with a somber gaze as he clenched his fists.

“Why are we even fighting!?”

“Because we’ve got no idea-”

“No!” Sam said, cutting off Matthias. “It doesn’t matter! None of us had any idea what we were doing when we signed up for college, and we still made it three years in! Not one of us knew what it’d be like living in a house without parents, and we’ve done great! None of us had any idea how to live with complete strangers, and we’re friends! Best friends, whether you like it or not!” he said, pointing at Zander. “No one ever has any idea what they’re doing when they start, that’s the point! We’re gonna mess up, we’re gonna get hurt, and we’re gonna learn from it no matter what. We haven’t even started any actual adventuring and you’re already at each other’s throats!”

Sam sighed and leaned back against the wall, his tail throwing the cracked log.

“Look, the point is that we’re here now, and we’ve got to accept it. We’re heroes in some prophecy, fine. We have strange powers? People would kill to do what we’ve been doing for the past week. We have a chance that no one else in our world has, and you guys are just gonna complain about how much we’re underprepared? That’s what life is! Getting thrown into situations you’re not prepared for and doing the best with what you’ve got. If I gave up when mom and dad threw me onto the streets, I’d be dead right now. So stop fighting, because we’ve got a lot more worthwhile things to fight out there,” he pointed to the Everfree, “than we’ve got here,” he finished, motioning to the four of them.

A moment passed in silence between the group before Zander spoke.

“Alright, fine. Guess you’re right.”

Zander turned to Matthias and offered a hand.

“Sorry man, guess you’ve got a lot of shit backed up too?”

Matthias took a deep breath as he accepted the hand, letting Zander pull him up.

“Yeah, I’m sorry too. I just… I’ve been trying to focus on this stuff all week and I don’t think I’ve even started to get a grip on it.”

Matthias turned to the range and waved his hands towards the untouched targets and scorched dirt.

“I tried focusing like it’s the Force, shouting spell names, picturing it in my head and focusing, all those stupid tropes about how magic people shoot things, and nothing’s worked. Plus, trying to get that bird form up is still kinda wonky.”

“Well, you can’t really force it,” Zander said before he flashed into a white wolf. “Gotta just let it out on its own.”

The two started talking about their transformations, discussing how they channel it while Mike approached Sam, patting him on the shoulder.

“Thanks for that man,” Mike said with a smile.

“Hey, no worries,” Sam said. “Just didn’t want to see them fighting. We’ve got more to worry about than petty little stuff like this, so I just want them to remember that.”

A clap snapped the guys to attention and they turned to see a smiling Button Mash, who was trying to fight back tears.

“I’ve never heard anything so beautiful in my life,” he said, wiping at his eyes.

He wore a set of grey armor with light blue cloth wrapped around his wrists, resembling a Roman Centurion, though he had a d-pad crest carved into the shoulder guards. At his hip was a mace made from sapphires, its grip wrapped in black leather, and on his back was a round shield, coated with silver and sported his mom’s mark on it.

“Hey, you look about ready,” Zander said, morphing out of his wolf form.

“Yeah, and I feel great too!” Button said, patting his chest with a fist. “I came out here to say thanks again, and I heard Sam’s speech. I’ve gotta say, even if you guys don’t know why you’re here, I’m confident when I say that I’m sure it’s because of your friendship.”

Zander gave him a dead glare.

“Really dude? Our ‘friendship’?”

“It may be weird to see in work, but I could see clear as day the bonds you’ve forged. Keep that bond tight, it’ll be your best weapon against Chaos.”

“I believe the best weapon against Chaos is around 132mm wide on treads, but I’m biased so what would I know,” Sam said.

“Ah! I understood that!” Button said, smiling as he tapped a finger to his temple.

Sam made a finger gun motion at Button while Mike holstered his Ghost and Matthias packed away a spell tome he’d laid out on a barrel.

“Armor’s looking good, did you have to refit again?” Zander asked, slugging Button’s shoulder.

“Yeah, actually!” Button said, tightening his belt. “It’s so weird, since I started training with you guys I think I hit puberty again!”

“Wait, ‘again’?” Mike asked. “How old are you, exactly?”

“Almost 20, why?”

“Wow, you did not look 20 when we met you, seriously,” Zander said. “Still, good to see our training paid off.”

“Yeah, but don’t you think it’s kinda weird that he bulked up and grew half a foot after only a few days of training?” Matt said, hauling a bag of books over his shoulder.

“Eh, we’re in a magical fantasy land,” Sam said. “Probably something to do with some clown god of montages or something sped up the process.”

“Well either way, it’s gonna be interesting to see how this pays off at the exam,” Button said. “Speaking of which, you guys studied last night for yours, right?”

The guys exchanged looks before nodding.

“Yeah, totally.”
“Read it front to back.”
“Memorized everything, dude.”
“Not a single page, no.”

Everyone turned to Sam who simply shrugged.

“I never remember anything if I cram and study. Usually I do better without studying.”

Three of them facepalmed while Button smiled.

“Well, I believe in you guys no matter what! You’ll do great. I just hope I don’t get a bad matchup for my physical exam.”

The guys nodded and moved out, taking the main road to Ponyville.

\\\\\\//////

“So how do you think the test is going to go for us, since we’re new here?” Mike asked as he and the guys walked through the town.

“Well,” Button started, “you’re probably going to be seated in different rooms to make sure you don’t cheat. Then they’re going to make sure you’re not enchanting anything, then they’ll assign you to a desk and provide you with the test materials.”

“I’m guessing some students tried to cheat?” Mike asked.

“Yeah, they get expelled and are barred from ever adventuring again,” he added with a shudder. “Even going far as to notify every other guild throughout the lands.”

“Sheesh, no pressure, huh?” Matthias scoffed.

“What if we fail or get caught and want a redo?” Zander said.

“Well, you could appeal for a Repentius, where you accept an enchanted branding into your chest and take the tests again under oath.”

“And by brand, you mean…”

“They scar your chest with a burning mark of Styx, the Betrayer, and enchant it with lie detection and guilt. They say that if you’re branded with it, you won’t be able to lie again, and if you do, your heart will burst into flames and burn you alive, inside out.”

“Jesus Christ,” Matt said.

“Bloody hell, man,” Mike said in shock. “Does anybody that takes that challenge actually complete it, or just cut their losses and leave?”

“There were a few who went through with it. Some of them managed to earn their place back in their Guilds. Most died from the challenges, but a few of them actually became some of the best heroes out there.”

“Well, that’s interesting,” Sam said. “Know any of them?”

“They say one of them actually visits the town with a party, but I don’t think I’ve seen her. Even mom doesn’t know her name, just that they studied under the School of Sol. Although, some ponies that fail the first time around just give up. I had some old classmates who dropped out recently. One works in the Guild as a barber, and the other’s a gardener. Gotta say, they’re pretty happy.”

“And what about you, Button?” Matthias said. “When we first met you didn’t seem thrilled to be an adventurer.”

Button looked up at the clouds as he slowed down, taking a deep breath.

“I don’t want to be tied to my mom’s legacy,” he said as he turned to the guys. “I want to be an adventurer, I really do, but I want it to where it can be with my own name, and not tied to my mom. I’ve seen plenty of assholes that mooch off their family legacy and all it does is turn them into cocky jackasses that think they're better than everyone else because of their lineage.”

“That’s dedication, man,” Mike added. “Gotta give you props.”

“So when do things start-”

“They’re coming back!!” a local shouted, getting the town's attention. The guys heard this as well and saw several ponies that weren’t injured walking towards the guild.

“The hell’s going on?” Zander asked.

Most ponies ran towards the town center, near the Guild. Button and the guys followed the masses, standing back as the crowd gathered around the Guild’s main entrance. In front of the building was a familiar group of mares and dragonesses. In the midst of the group was a giant gemstone, faded in color but it looked as if it was shaped like a giant deformed face. Applejack punched the gem and it cracked apart, breaking into a pile of gems before the crowd went wild with cheers and applause.

“Okay, what’s actually happening right now?” Mike asked.

“They killed it! They slayed an Amethyst Golem!” Button screamed as he jumped up and down excitedly.

“The Hell’s an Amethyst Golem?” Zander asked. “And why’s everyone so cheery about it?”

“Those monsters are extremely rare and powerful automatons brought to life in the Age of Chaos. They’re walking mountains that want to destroy anything in their path, and this one was spotted coming here a month ago. And they killed it!”

The guys looked over the girls again, seeing them wave back to the crowd. Rainbow was basking in the glory alongside Rarity, both posing for the ponies. Twilight and Sunset were examining pieces of the amethysts, with Barb and Ashe writing something down in their own books. Fluttershy and Starlight were talking to some other townsfolk while Pinkie had already started drinking.

“Jeez, they don’t even have a scratch on them,” Mike said.

“Well done, well done indeed!” the Mayor said as she strolled out of the Guild, clapping. “I’m certain I speak for everypony when I tell you lot that we’re immensely grateful for your assistance. And with these gems, not only can we afford repairs for the roads and bridges, but we can share the excess wealth with the ponies of this town!”

This got the ponies screaming once more, the applause thundering as they hollered for the team.

Suddenly, the noise died down as a single clap rang in the air.

“I’m very glad you managed this task so easily, my subjects.”

Everypony threw themselves to the ground, getting on their knees and bowing towards the Guild entrance, where even the mares of Twilight’s party kneeled before a massive white pony in a skimpy outfit that barely covered her privates. She was walking out of the Guild’s doors, her wings and voluptuous assets bouncing with every stride.

“What’s going on?” Mike asked in confusion.

“Princess Celestia has arrived, you have to bow,” Button hissed.

“Dude, I usually wouldn’t, but I think we’re kind of out of our element so yeah,” Zander whispered, getting on his knees.

“Got it,” Sam said before falling over and curling up.

Matthias and Mike shared a look before they nodded, both of them flattening themselves against the dirt as they bowed.

“We thank you for your guidance, as a loving mother of Equestria, and as the fire in the sky, Avatar of Sol, Queen Celestia,” everypony said at once.

Queen Celestia smiled and bowed her head a little. She looked out over the crowd, scanning the ponies until she saw the sight of a white and purple tail wagging in the air.

“Hey, she’s looking over here,” Sam said. “Hi!” he called, waving his clawed tail.

Zander punched Sam in the back of the head, forcing his face into the dirt as his tail went rigid before falling over.

“Are you trying to get us fucking executed!?” Zander whisper-screamed.

A tense quiet reigned over the crowd as they silently cursed at whoever dared to speak to the Queen in such a way. Twilight and her party openly gawked in shock that someone would be so bold as to speak like that in front of Queen Celestia. The Queen herself, however, was staring at them with a blank look.

Queen Celestia cleared her throat before speaking.

“Whoever you are, would you and your friends kindly rise?”

Sam didn’t hesitate to get back up, Zander following after him alongside Mike and Matt. Matt looked down at Button, who subtly shook his head before Zander grabbed him by the mane, pulling him up.

“Hello ma’am,” Sam said, waving. “You are extremely tall.”

“I am aware, thank you,” she said. “Would you care to come here?”

The guys carefully stepped around the still bowing ponies, who glared at them as they passed. Once the guys made it to the center, they stood in awe at the presence of the giant mare. Not only did she stand far more massively than any other pony or creature they’d seen yet, but she also radiated like the Sun itself. Warmth, kindness and affection that reminded most of them of how a mother shows their love.

“I assume that you four are new to this world, correct?” she asked.

“Uh, yes we are. Your majesty,” Mike said, bowing his head.

“I see. I will need to discuss certain matters with you four in private soon. Please make whatever arrangements you need to so you may leave town. Just ask Twilight Sparkle for a portal to Canterlot and I’ll have you all brought to me personally.”

“Wait, if you need to tell us something why not tell us now?” Zander said.

Queen Celestia looked over the crowd carefully before answering.

“You’ll have your answers when you arrive at my palace. Until then, I’ve unfinished business with my apprentices. If you’d be so kind as to stand aside, I’d be grateful.”

The guys exchanged looks before backing away, walking towards the doors of the Guild as Queen Celestia approached Twilight’s group.

“My students, please rise.”

Twilight and Sunset rose and stepped up to her.

“It’s good to see both of you in such good health. This Golem would have been a terrifying threat, I’m sure, and I’m glad to know that the problem is solved.”

“Of course, Queen Celestia,” Twilight said. “We planned our attack for a few days while watching its movements. I studied the residues it left behind to figure out its health and what it could be weak to while Sunset and the girls worked on scouting a good place to ambush it so we could-”

The Avatar of Sol raised a hand to silence Twilight. The purple mare stopped talking the moment it was raised, but Celestia still wore a warm smile.

“I’d love to hear of your thrilling hunt, but for now, I have another special assignment for you and your friends.”

“Of course, my Queen,” Sunset said, fist raised over her heart. “However we can serve, we will.”

“I know, Sunset. All I ask is that you protect these fine gentlecolts until they come to Canterlot,” she said, motioning to the guys.

Twilight and Sunset blinked in shock, Sunset’s hand lowering as Twilight’s mane popped a single curled hair.

“Um… I-I’m sorry for asking, my Queen, but… why?”

“Everything will become clear when we’re in Canterlot, my sweet students,” the Sun Queen said as she hugged the two alicorns. “I can’t talk out here in the open about it,” she whispered to them. “There could be spies watching us. Protect them.”

With that, she pulled away with a large smile and kissed both of the mares on the forehead, beneath their horns.

“You’ve all made me so proud. Not just you and your friends, Twilight, but all of you wonderful ponies of Ponyville. I know how much you’ve all been dreading the Golem, but you’ve persevered through much worse before, and I know you’ll keep this town standing for far longer than this. Please, celebrate! Stand up and let your cheers ring through the day and night!”

The ponies stood up and cheered, applauding the Queen as she spread her wings. A gust swept through the town as she pumped her wings, taking to the sky as a golden aura surrounded her. Encased in her golden light, she soared off, towards the city perched on the mountain’s side in the distance.

Many ponies were starting to celebrate already, some corking open wine and champagne while others opened their doors to invite friends and neighbors in. As the guys watched, the group of high-ranked mares approached them, standing a good distance away with stern gazes directed at them.

“Well, it sure was fun hanging out with you guys, but I can’t miss my exam so I gotta go, bye!” Button said as he ran away.

“Traitor!” Zander screamed. “I hope you fucking fail!”

“Don’t listen to him, do your best!” Sam called out.

Barb coughed into her fist, drawing their attention once more. Sam simply smiled at them.

“Hey all! What’s up?”

Chapter 11

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“Are you freaking crazy?” Barb said in annoyance looking at Sam. “You just think you can walk right up to Queen Celestia, Queen Celestia herself, and just talk to her like some common pony!?”

“... I want to say yes, but I feel like that’s not the answer you want to hear,” Sam said.

Ashe stepped between the two, putting a hand on Barb’s shoulder.

“Barb, calm down, I’m sure that he didn’t mean to disrespect her. He’s just…” she trailed off, motioning with her hand.

“Stupid?” Zander offered.

“Well, that’s not-”

“Yeah, that’s a perfect descriptor for what happened back there!” Barb said, stomping. “And you!” she said, pointing at Mike.

“What!? The heck did I do!?” he shouted, glaring back at the dragoness.

“He’s your friend, you should have reeled him in! Of course it has to be with you freaks!”

“Barb!” Twilight shouted, snapping her fingers.

A purple chain wrapped around Barb, pinning her ankles together and squeezing her arms to her sides. The dragoness yelped as she was tied up, Twilight walking up to her.

“I understand that you’d be upset with how they behaved,” she said, looking at the guys. “Trust me, we’ll discuss this later. But your shouting isn’t necessary, especially since it’s evident that there’s more going on here than we can clearly tell.”

“Twilight’s right,” Sunset said. “There’s something that Queen Celestia wanted to tell us but couldn’t. If we go to our hall, we can talk about it some more, but for now, we have an assignment to protect them.”

Sunset turned to the guys as Twilight released Barb, keeping a hand on her while she fumed at the group.

“I’m sure you’re all quite confused, but maybe we can discuss this somewhere safer in private. We’re going to retire to our Clan Hall, if you’d care to join us. If not, we can take turns watching you all.”

The guys turned back and huddled up.

“I think we should go with them,” Matthias said.

“I’m sorry, did you miss the part where these crazy bitches glared death at us for talking to their queen?” Zander whispered. “No way I’m getting locked in a room with them.”

“But the Queen lady said we can visit and ask about why we’re here if we stay with them,” Sam said. “Plus, they’re not that bad.”

“Dude, she insulted you in a screaming fit.”

“So do you.”

“Point taken, but-”

“Like, every day.”

“Okay, I-”

“Almost like clockwork, actually.”

“Guys!” Mike hissed. “Look, we put it to a vote, alright? I’m saying we go with them. Worst case scenario, we get yelled at by annoying dragons before we actually learn more about why we’re here.”

“As much as it worries me about what they’ll do if we mess up, I’m in too.”

“My vote was yes from the beginning. I wanna see what a Clan Hall looks like in real life.”

They all looked at Zander, who glared back and sighed.

“Fine, but don’t expect me to let my guard down.”

“So you guys are in?” Pinkie whispered from her position in their huddle.

“GAH!”
“FUCK!”
“OH-JEEZ!”

Matthias, Zander and Mike jumped back in surprise when they saw Pinkie in the huddle. Zander fell back and scrambled to get up while Matt landed on his ass, clutching his heart.

“What! How! How did you sneak in like that!?”

“She asked me to scoot over a bit so I did,” Sam said.

“I kinda wanted to hear what you were saying. Also, I like huddles. They’re like cuddles but more serious,” she said with a smile, clapping.

The other mares stood around them in a crescent formation, glaring at Zander. He looked up at them and glared back.

“What?”

“‘Crazy Bitches’?” Rarity said with air quotes, squinting her eyes at him.

Zander’s face went pale for a moment as he tried to think of an excuse.

“You weren’t supposed to hear that.”

“Oops~!” Rarity said loudly, snapping her fingers.

A portal opened up beneath Zander and he fell in with a terrified scream, followed by an echoing splash.

“Oh, clumsy me! I accidentally opened the gate above our Cragadile pit! Oh, what a Crazy Bitch I am!” she finished, screaming into the Gate.

“The fuck is- NO! NO, FUCK OFF!” Zander screamed, splashing around.

“Well, I need a better view of this,” Rarity said, closing the first Gate and opening a second one.

She stepped through the vertical Gate, Rainbow following behind with Barb and Applejack coming along. The Gate closed with a popping sound as the rest of the mares looked to the guys.

“Hey, uh, I think he deserved it for saying that,” Matthias said, his eyes flickering between the mares.

“Yeah, I’d rather not go for a swim with whatever it was that was chasing him.

“Don’t worry, Craggy doesn’t have any teeth,” Fluttershy said.

“Is that the name of the Cragagator?” Sam said.

“Cragadile, and yes,” Pinkie said. “She’s just like my pet summon, Gummy.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine, she’s trained to not really attack anypony, just growl at them,” Twilight said. “But I won’t tolerate any behavior like that in our Clan Hall, so before I summon another portal, some rules.” She cleared her throat. “Number one; do not touch any of our equipment, many items are rigged to harm any trespassers. Number two; do not go into our rooms unless we’re there to show you something. Number three; don’t eat anything from Fluttershy and Starlight’s garden, they’re experimental. Finally, number four; don’t read anything in our library’s Forbidden Section. Any questions?”

Sam’s arm went up.

“What was number one again? Also, the rest after that? I was thinking about how two crocodiles without teeth eat. Do they have dentures? Also, can I pet them?”

“You may not.”

“Can I ride them like mounts?”

Twilight’s eye twitched.

“Wha… if you can’t pet them, what makes you think you’d be allowed to ride them?”

“... can I pet them if they ask?”

“Twilight, these are serious questions,” Pinkie said, scratching her chin at the depth of the discussion.

“No! No touching anything! Even if they ask you, which they can’t! Just don’t touch anything!”

“What if I need to use the bathroom?”

Twilight growled in frustration as she snapped her fingers, summoning another Gate.

“Get in, and touch! Nothing!”

“... the floor is a something.”

“GET IN!”

“Yes ma’am!” Sam said, saluting. “Big Pink!”

“Gotcha!” Pinkie said.

Pinkie rushed to pick Sam up, slinging him over her shoulder as she ran inside, followed by a loud splash. Twilight smacked herself in the face, dragging it down as she glared at the portal.

“Great, now there’s two of them. Again.”

Twilight walked through the Gate and closed it, leaving Mike and Matt behind with the others.

“Well, your friend seems like a lot of fun,” Sunset giggled. “Not many ponies can drive Twilight up the wall that quickly, and he seems to be on par with even Pinkie’s antics. He a handful back in your world too?”

“Yeah, he can get pretty bad,” Matthias said. “But. he’s the optimist we need in our house, otherwise it’s all depressing talks about not being able to pay our rent or something.”

“Well, I’m glad you guys seem so alright so far. I mean, that thing with the ‘crazy bitches’ isn’t too far off, to be honest. We’re all messed up in our own ways, but hey, we make it work. That’s what friendship’s all about, right Starlight?”

Starlight blushed and nodded.

“Y-yeah. Hey, uh, I’m gonna check on the plants, either of you wanna come along?”

“Uh, I think I’ll take a look. You don’t have any craggy things in your garden, right?” Matthias said.

“Nope! Just plants, and… more plants!” she said.

“Alright, I guess I’m game. Haven’t actually tended to any plants since Freshman year, it’ll be nice to see if I still have a green thumb.”

“Oh, I’ll come too,” Fluttershy said. “I need to check up on some of the bees I saved from that fire a few months ago.”

“Great, anypony else?”

No one said anything, so Starlight cast a Gate to the garden. She stepped inside, followed by Matthias and Fluttershy. When the butter-yellow mare stepped through, the Gate closed.

“So, where exactly is your Clan Hall if you need a portal to get there?” Mike asked, turning to Sunset.

“It’s buried deep within Mount Canterhorn, underneath thousands of kilotons of decaying crystals that run underneath Canterlot. It’s enchanted to resist any other kind of teleportation magic, and can only be keyed into with a blessing given from the Queen Sisters themselves, since it used to be their own personal Guild.”

“Wow, that’s insane.”

“Oh yeah. To see its halls is like being granted access to Elysium on Equis. Why don’t we start you off in the main hall, huh?”

“Sure.”

Sunset nodded and snapped her fingers. A red-outlined vortex swirled in the air before them, and Ashe motioned for Mike to go. He stepped through the portal, his demonic arm tingling as it pierced the veil of magic. Everything went quiet and dark when his head dipped in, and then he was brought back to reality when he stepped through the whole way. He looked around in awe, taking in the sight of the gargantuan hall he stood in.

The main hall stood easily five stories high and almost the size of a football field. Above him, the ceiling was made of glowing white crystals, held up by a massive rib cage that served as the literal skeleton for the entire hall. The crystal fused with the ancient bone through the spine, with bits of string hanging extravagantly carved chandeliers that spun lazily in the air. Two giant tables sat on either side of the entryway, one carved from blue wood with the moon etched into the center, and the other white with a sun. Each table was lined with 30 chairs in total, each covered with leather dyed to match the table’s theme. There were wooden walls, reaching only two stories high, cast with rich, brown mahogany. Around the dining area, the walls were lined with severed heads of great beasts, impaled into the wood with the weapons that likely slaid them. At the center of the hall was a large pit, a stone-carved one with plenty of space and filled with pillows of every possible color, varying in sizes. Surrounding it was a ring of coals, still red-hot with only a single plank of glowing wood to walk through it.

There were two balconies that encircled the circumference of the hall, large doors lining the walls themselves with marks on the doors, two of which he recognized as Applejack and Twilight’s Cutie Marks. The balconies at the third floor were connected by a bridge with a round hole in the middle, leading right over the furthest end of the bottom floor. At the farthest end of the hall was a massive pool, currently splashing water everywhere as Zander and Sam were chased by giant crocodiles.

The one chasing Zander was grey, and looked as if it were made from stone. When it opened its mouth, he could see pink flesh and a gaping throat, sucking up water and snapping shut just before it could catch Zander. Sam, however, was caught by the giant green one, and it tossed him into the air before he landed on its back.

“WOO! THIS IS THE BEST! DAY! EVER!” he screamed from the back of the beast.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP AND HELP ME!” Zander screamed as he swam towards the edge of the pool.

Even with the two screaming, Mike could barely hear the two from the opposite end.

“Jeez, this place is huge,” he said.

“Yep. You wanna see the guest rooms?” Sunset asked.

“Sure, but are you sure Zander’s gonna be alright?”

Sunset looked at the splashing creatures and then walked off.

“So yeah, those rooms.”

She motioned for Mike to follow her and Ashe. Mike nodded, walking behind the tall mare and dragoness as they walked through a set of double doors with bronze frames. Inside was a long hallway, with five more doors on each end of the hall. Sunset then opened a door to reveal a set of four doors behind it.

“These should be your rooms,” she told them as she let Mike walk through and up to the first door on the left. Stepping in, he looked around at the ceiling cast in bright wood, and the polished floors. Opening it, he saw the room was small, only about large enough for one person to fit in, with a twin-sized bed in the left corner on the floor, a desk and bench taking up the right half of the room beside the bed, and an armor rack with a chest beside it taking up the rest of the back wall.

“Okay, this is a bit smaller than I expected,” he said.

“Well, considering you guys are going to start off with Bronze ranks at the Guild, you’ll only be allowed in the Bronze rooms,” Sunset said.

“Yeah, when we were inducted into the Queen’s personal service, we had to stay here too,” Ashe said. “But it’s not all that bad. You guys can still use the main bathing hall and the pool.”

“You mean the one with the giant monsters in it?” Mike deadpanned.

“They’re not that bad,” Ashe said, waving him off. “They’re a bit nippy, but they won’t actually try to hurt you unless we utter the attack phrase.”

“What is that? I don’t want to accidentally say it.”

“Sorry, only ranks Gold or higher can learn the phrase,” Sunset said. “But trust me, it’s not something that you’d say in a passing conversation.”

“Okay, but if we accidentally set them off-”

“You won’t,” Ashe said. “Now, if you want to tour the rest of this place that’s fine, but I’ve got to see Barb about that Amethyst Golem shards. Later Sunset.”

With that, the dragoness left the two. Sunset cracked her knuckles and followed.

“I’m gonna fix up something to eat. You hungry?”

“Actually, we were gonna see Button’s physical exam for his license,” Mike said. “Not to mention that we haven’t taken any exams either, so we don’t exactly qualify until we get a license first.”

“If the Queen’s invitation wasn't a clear enough indicator, she’s probably going to give you a royal exception and grant you guys your own licenses. It’s how Fluttershy and Starlight got theirs.”

“Huh. Okay, that’ll be cool. I just hope Button’s exam is going well.”

\\\\\\//////

Button yipped as he ducked underneath a blade, the edge of the silver bladed tonfa barely snipping the end of his mane off. Sweat drops landed in one eye as he tumbled across the ground. He gripped his mace and rolled backwards, raising it in time to meet Tumble’s blade.

“And I’ll never let you forget it!” she screamed, tears flowing as her wings glowed with magic.

\\\\\\//////

In the room leading to the bedrooms, the guys waited on the girls to call them to go see Queen Celestia to talk to her. Zander stewed in his anger, flipping his dagger around his hand and dancing it between his fingers, mumbling about revenge. Sam was drying himself off with a pink, fluffy towel and Matthias set down a tray on a table, filled with salad and bread rolls.

“Raise your hands if you’re bored,” Mike said with a sigh as he looked at his other roommates.

Matthias raised his hand and looked between the other two. Zander raised a middle finger and Sam lifted his clawed appendage as he rubbed his face into the towel.

“Oh man, this is the best towel ever!” Sam said, pulling his head out. “Hey, did they tell you where the washing machine is? I wanna clean this before giving it back to Pinkie.

“No, they didn’t,” Mike said. “Besides, we need to wait for them to get back. I wanna know what the heck’s going on and that Queen Celestia said she’d tell us.”

“Yeah, but she also said that when she’s ready she’ll tell us,” Matthias said.

“So what, we’re supposed to wait until she calls or something?”

“I guess so. What else can we do?”

“Get back at that fucking cunt is what we can do,” Zander growled.

“Still mad that she dropped you into the gator pit?” Mike said.

Zander turned and glared at Mike, his eyes almost burning as he growled.

“Dude, I get you’re pissed,” Matthias said, “but we’re not about to piss on the nicest living space we’ve ever lived in just because you want revenge.”

“Wait, did you just growl?” Sam asked.

“I almost got fucking eaten alive, fucker!” Zander yelled. “If I want my damned revenge, I’ll take it with or without your help!”

“Well count me out,” Mike said. “I’ve already got that purple dragon girl on my case from when we met, I don’t need to give any of them a justifiable reason to not trust us.”

“Yeah, I’d rather not get caught up in one of your unnecessarily brutal revenge schemes,” Matthias said.

“Oh, name one time I ever went overboard!”

“Burned that guy’s house down for selling you a bad computer, busted that one dude’s car for cutting you off on the highway, and then there’s Stacy,” Sam said.

Zander grimaced at the mention of Stacy.

“We don’t talk about Stacy!” Zander said, pointing the blade at Sam. “Still, this isn’t like any of those! I just called them crazy bitches, it’s not like I ate their fucking dog at a barbeque or somethinig!”

“Okay, I’m stoppin’ this right here,” Applejack said as she entered the room. “Ah ain’t hearing anymore of this kinda talk, stop it.”

“Well then don’t eavesdrop on us!” Zander said.

“Ah came to tell y’all that dinner’s ready in a few minutes and you can take a seat. Didn’t want to be rude so I wanted to wait until you’re done talkin’, but I’m stoppin’ this at dog grilling. Ah ain’t going through another one of those.”

“Wait, what!?” Mike and Matthias said.

“Nope, walkin’ away!” Applejack yelled as she closed the door.

The guys sat there for a moment before Mike and Matthias looked at Zander.

“Dude, let’s just go eat, it’s been a rollercoaster of a day,” Matt said.

“Yeah, let’s just try and move on,” Mike said. “Maybe if you apologized for being rude-”

“No,” Zander said, storming past the two out the door.

“Well, glad to see that even in a magic world he’s still the Zander we know,” Sam said. “Anyways, I could eat.”

“Eat what?”

“I don’t know, let’s find out.”

The guys made their way to the main hall and saw that most of the mares were already sitting at the table. They were out of their armors, wearing silk pajamas that matched their mane colors, save for Rainbow Dash who wore a blue set with turtles printed on it and Sunset, who wore a white bathrobe. Overall, they were dressed more modestly as they were now than in their armor, so the sight was slightly less of an eyeful and easier to adjust to. Though the only ones unaccounted for were Barb, Ashe and Pinkie.

“So, where can we sit?” Sam asked as he stood at the head of a table, next to Sunset and Twilight.

“Well, this table’s usually where we all gather around,” Twilight said. “It’s normally just us here anyways, since most of the other adventurers allowed here are off in distant lands.”

“Well what’s over by the fire pit?” Mike asked, pointing at the freshly rearranged pillows.

“That’s where Ashe and Barb sit for their meals,” Sunset said. “Since they need to eat meat, they usually sit over there where they can cook without worrying about us getting in the way.”

“Oh my God,” Matthias said under his breath.

“What?” Sunset said, looking between them.

“Are you telling me that we can finally get a decent steak here?” Matt asked.

“Dude, we went to that Griffon vendor two days ago,” Mike said.

“That old bastard sold us half-rotten raw cuts for thirty freaking bits each!” Matthias said, pointing an accusing finger at Mike. “If I didn’t spend two whole hours cutting them up we’d probably end up dead!”

“Oh, right,” Mike hissed.

“Well I guess you figured out where you’ll sit,” Sunset said. “Didn’t take you four - well, three of you- for meat eaters.”

“Technically we can eat meat, fruits and vegetables, but yeah we can eat meat,” Mike mentioned

“Just please try to not stain the seats with meat juices, they can’t be taken off of the benches and are very difficult to clean,” Twilight said.

“Got it!” Sam said, burying himself in an avalanche of pillows until he was hidden.

“Great, I’d love to sit as far away from her as possible,” Zander growled, jabbing a thumb in Rarity’s direction.

“That’s lovely, because we don’t let animals at the table,” she said.

“Then why are you allowed up there, you-”

Mike’s morphed arm fired a glowing blue hand out that grasped Zander’s mouth and threw him at the cushioned pit.

“Please just ignore that statement, he’s pretty mad about earlier,” Mike said.

“Well I’m still displeased with his attitude, thank you very much,” she said, flipping through a book.

“I mean, I kinda feel like you don’t have any right to act like this considering you threw him into a pit with a giant monster. What if it killed him? That’s pretty extreme for some name calling.”

Rarity’s frown deepened as she buried her attention into the book and turned away from the group, leaning against the table as her back faced Mike.

“Wow, okay then,” Mike said as he sat in the pit.

A set of doors opened up as Barb and Ashe walked out, wearing white robes with baggy white pants, a giant spread of cut meats held between them.

“Okay, what are these guys doing in our spot?” Barb said.

“We were hoping to have dinner,” Matthias said. “You need a hand with that?”

“We got it, thanks,” Ashe said. “So you guys can eat meat too?”

“Yes, and it feels like it’s been ages since we’ve had a decent steak!” Matthias said.

“Well I hope you enjoy this, ‘cause this’ll be the first time we’ve ever cooked for anyone other than the two of us.”

Ashe and Barb set the large metal dish down over the pit of coals and rocks, Barb glaring at the guys as she made sure to keep herself upright while lowering the dish. Zander just kept his eyes locked on Rarity while Matthias and Mike stared at the spread of meat. Lamb, pork and many different cuts of beef were all spread out with some tongs and knives resting in a basket. Ashe handed the basket to Mike.

“Can you pass these around?”

“Sure.”

He passed a knife and fork to everyone in the pit, setting a pair down next to the pillows that Sam hid under and handing them off to Barb.

“Here,” he said.

The dragoness eyed the utensils and took them, giving a sidelong glance to Mike.

“So you guys are important to Queen Celestia?” Barb said, her voice low.

“I guess we are,” Mike said, shrugging.

Ashe sat down next to Barb, grabbing a wooden pole before gently blowing a small flame. A stream of ruby fire washed over the stick, lighting it before she inserted it into the pit. The guys pulled back their feet as the pit of rocks and coals burst into a low flame, the metal tray atop it already glowing as Ashe smothered the torch.

“Why would Queen Celestia, the ruler of all daylight graces, Diarch of Equestria, Champion of Sol and the Goddess of the Sun, be interested in a bunch of freaky little pervs like you?” Barb asked, waving her fork at the guys.

“Okay, would you kindly lay off the accusations of perviness?” Matthias asked, pointing his own fork at her. “Seriously, what have we actually done to warrant that, at all?”

“I’ve seen how you gawk and stare at every mare in armor, especially Twilight and Applejack,” she growled, thrusting the fork in Mike’s direction.

“Okay, first of all, we’re from a completely different world where people don’t dress like that!” Mike said, stabbing out with his own fork. “So excuse us if we’re a bit weirded out by aliens and their dress code!”

“Yeah? And what about… that, thing that happened, after the fight? When you peeked up-”

“No,” Mike interrupted. “That was because of Twilight teleporting you. That. Was. An. Accident!”

Barb blushed and stabbed her fork into a piece of lamb. Already, the meats on the platter were sizzling, Ashe turning over some sleeves of pork while glancing at the pillow pile.

“Are you alright under there?” she said, leaning over it.

“Yeah, I’m great!” Sam answered from within. “I’ve always wanted to do this since I saw it on TV, but I could never really afford-”

“DIVE BOOOOOOMB!”

A pink blur slammed into the pile of pillows, Sam’s yelp of pain drowned under the downy prison he’d shackled himself within. Pinkie Pie sprawled on the collapsed pillow fort as if she were trying to take up as much space as physically possible. She wore a snugly fit onesie with padded ends for her hooves, the whole thing colored baby-blue with white dots all over it.

“Hey, did we get some kind of hard pillow added to this?” she asked, shifting her hips as she grinded deeper into the pile.

“I think that’s Sam’s arm,” Matthias said.

“Mostly my entire back,” Sam’s hoarse whisper replied, muffled by Pinkie’s lower half.

“Oh fudge, not again!” she said, flipping backwards off of the sofa.

She threw all of the pillows off and found Sam lying face-down, flattened into the cushioned seat.

“Oh hai Pinkie,” he said, barely able to lift his head.

She reached in and yanked him upright before helping him into a sitting position.

“Are you okay? Did anything pop or break?”

“Nah, nah I’m fine,” he said, rolling his neck. “So, what brings you to my dilapidated abode?”

“I always sit with Barb and Ashe because I like to toss Gummy some of the meat they don’t eat. I didn’t know you were hiding in there, sorry.”

“It’s fine, I’m used to getting body-checked by people ten times my everything.”

Pinkie leaned over and hugged him, leaning her chin on his head as she whispered an apology to him before patting his chest.

“Well, I’m just going to take some chicken for Gummy then,” she said, walking off with an entire chicken in hand.

Barb gave a gaze to Mike.

“I bet you wished you were in Sam’s place, huh?” she accused.

“Sam’s way more durable than I am. I’d probably be dead if she slammed on me,” he said, digging into a flank steak.

“Oh, so now you’re saying she’s fat, too?” Barb said, glaring.

“OKAY, REALLY!? I never said anyone was fat! Are you really just going to sit there and keep accusing me of stuff I didn’t do? What is your problem!?”

“Barb, seriously, knock it off,” Ashe said.

“Oh, come on A, I thought-”

“No, this is different!” Ashe hissed. “Celestia herself said, in front of all of us, that she needs them for something. They’re our charges, and if you can’t treat them with respect, can you at least stop being rude to them until after our assignment’s over?”

Barb opened her mouth as if to say something, stopped, and huffed before shoving an entire pork chop, bone and all, into her mouth. It crunch terribly as she bit into it, but still, she ate the whole thing with a displeased look on her face.

Mike shook his head and returned to his own steak, unaware of Zander scraping the grease off of the plate into a cup.

\\\\\\//////

An hour or so later, the girls had cleaned up and were ushering to bed. Pinkie and Sam were petting Gummy and whispering goodnights to him while Ashe watched. Barb had cleaned up the leftovers from the firepit, and scraped it into a trough for the giant beasts. Fluttershy and Sunset finished cleaning as Matthias wiped off their tables, returning the washcloth to Starlight as they went off to bed.

“Sleep tight, everypony,” Starlight said.

“Goodnight,” Sunset and Fluttershy called.

“Right, good night,” Matt said, walking off.

Sam gave Gummy a pat on his snout as Pinkie planted a smooch on the beast before they both sighed.

“Well, sleep is important,” Sam said. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Pinkie.”

“Hope you have good dreams,” she said. Just as she was about to walk off, she stopped on the spot and spun around before leaning down to him. “Say, do you wanna help me with breakfast tomorrow? I could use some nimble claws.”

Sam looked at his hands and blinked.

“I have… claws. Of a sort.”

“Perfect! I’ll grab you tomorrow nice and early so we can get a head start. Nighty night!” she said, bouncing off to bed.

As she did, Ashe followed.

“Guess we’ll be seeing a bit more of each other early, then,” she said. “Goodnight, Sam.”

“Night, Ashe,” he said. “Thanks for the steak, by the way. It’s been ages since I had a nice meal like that.”

“Oh yeah? Remind you of your mother’s cooking?” she asked jokingly.

Sam’s eyes went a bit cold as his smile faded.

“Yeah… yeah, thankfully not.”

Ashe blinked as she watched the semi-dragon practically deflate, the stunning resemblance with a certain pink pony running deeper than she thought.

“I’ll… good night,” he said, trudging back to his room.

Ashe extended her hand as if she wanted to interrupt his leave, but she caught herself and turned, afraid of worsening the situation.

As Sam walked into the shared rooms, he walked past Mike and Zander, both of whom were pacing about. He slipped past them and closed the door to his room.

“The heck, is he alright?” Mike said, jabbing a thumb at Sam’s door.

“Dude, he got to ride the fucking gator like a toy. I almost got eaten by one of the things! That bitch could have fucking killed me! Seriously! What the fuck!” Zander said, punching a couch pillow.

“Dude, believe me, I get why you’re mad. That Barb chick just keeps accusing me of every little thing! I mean, seriously, how hard is it to understand that we’re not from here and that everything’s pretty strange to us? Acting as if I’m some kind of pervert when she fell butt-first on me.”

Zander stopped pacing and put a steel cup down on the table. Mike blinked and peered into it, coughing when he got a whiff of the substance.

“Ack! Dude, what is that?”

“Grease from the meats,” Zander said, swirling it around. “I’m gonna pour it on that bitch’s hair tomorrow.”

“You know she’ll throw you back in the water with that thing, right?”

”HIS NAME IS GUMMY!” Sam yelled, muffled from his room.

Both of them were startled by the sudden shout, but Zander was quick to move on.

“Fuck, you’re right. Plus, I can’t just try to sneak into her room and pour it on her while she’s sleeping, as much as I wish I could.”

“Uh, why?”

“First of all, I have no clue which room could be hers. I could end up walking in on the purple dragon and get roasted alive. Second, the doors are locked to these adventurer cards,” he said, flipping around his bronze card. “I tried sneaking in already when everyone was cleaning up, but that shit’s locked up tight.”

“O-kay,” Mike said, eyeing the grease cup. “So are you going to ditch that now that it’s useless?”

Zander looked into the cup and then around the room. His eyes laid on the weapons mounted on the wall and he grinned.

“Actually, I think I just got a better idea.”

He waited hours, until he was certain everyone had gone to bed and was asleep. Creeping out of the Bronze Hall, he made his way to the main foyer, and tiptoed to the weapons rack. He found Rarity’s Reiterpalasch, and carefully lifted it off of the rack.

Setting the blade onto a workbench, he rummaged the kitchen and found the rag he’d seen Ashe use for cleaning the tray they cooked the meat on. Gently and quietly, he unsheathed the rapier and set it on the bench. He wrapped the rag into a bundle and dabbed it into the grease before polishing the sword with it. He worked the blade thoroughly until he got a decent sheen on it before moving up to the handle. Digging in, he made sure to scrub the grease into the grip until he was certain it’d been set.

Zander used the sheathe first, angling the blade until he slid it all the way in before balancing it and putting it back on the rack. He smiled as he dumped the grease into the sink, and quietly hurried off to bed.

When he got back to the room, he nearly jumped out of his skin at the sight of Mike waiting for him.

“What’d you do?” he said in a hushed voice.

“Fucking stab me in the chest if you want to get my heart spiked like that!” Zander whisper-screamed/

“What. Did-”

“Alright, I poured grease on her sword, alright?”

“You realize when she finds out that it’s you, she’s gonna try and kill you again, right?”

“Relax, the stuff’s gonna dry up in a day or two, and tomorrow we’re going to that Canter-trot or whatever city. We’ll be with a literal Goddess, I think she’ll be fine without her sword if it slips.”

“And if it cuts her or stabs someone after she drops it?”

“... Look, we both know how I get when I’m rightfully pissed.”

“Tell her or I will,” he said, going to bed. “I’m not gonna let this get someone hurt, and you need to start thinking about long-term consequences.”

Mike walked into his bedroom and shut the door behind him, leaving Zander to smolder and stew in his emotions. He looked at his hands and clenched them into fists, swearing to himself as he wiped them off on his shirt before he jumped into bed.

-Canterlot-

Queen Celestia sat on her throne and looked at the empty throne that was next to her, her face not showing her usual smile, but rather a worried look on her tone.

“Strange, it’s been a few days and Luna still hasn’t returned,” Celestia thought, looking at her sister's empty throne.

As she contemplated her thoughts, a pair of mischievous laughs came from behind her. She smiled as she felt the tug of somepony climbing the backside of her throne. A small toy spider on a string slowly descended upon her, a stick lightly brushing the tip of her horn as somepony lowered the spider in front of her face.

“Oh, goodness me!” Celestia said in an exaggerated tone of horror. “A spider! Attacking me like this!”

The doors to the throne room opened, two mares in gold chainmail bikinis and large, golden shoulder pieces carrying torches slamming against the doors.

“Princess, are-”

The Guards stopped as Celestia glared at them, motioning for them to be quiet as she pointed at the fillies sitting atop her throne. The two doormares looked at each other and nodded.

“EEK!” they both shrieked, dropping their spears. “SPIDER!” they cried, closing the doors.

“Oh, woe is meeeee!” the Queen said, hand to her forehead as the other waved about. “My Guards are far too frightened by the horrible monster to save me!” she said, sprawling out of her throne. “If only there were two brave warriors who could stop it!”

“We’ll save you!” Flurry Heart said, jumping off of the throne.

“HIYAH!” Skyla shouted, punching the toy spider.

The twins stomped on the toy spider and threw it back and forth between each other, Celestia laughing as the door Guards reentered, picking their spears up from the floor.

“Oh, I’m ever so grateful for my precious little nieces for saving me from such a dreadful beast.”

“Yeah! We saved Aunt Celestia!” Flurry said.

“Yay, we’re heroes!” Skyla said, high-fiving her sister.

“That’s right, you’re both heroes,” Celestia said, rising from her throne and picking the two up. “And do you know what good adventurers get for saving the Queens? Bedtime.”

The two went from happiness to sadness in an instant, sighing as they sunk into her arms.

“Okay, Auntie,” they both said.

Just as Celestia was about to walk the two fillies to bed, a grey-coated Guardsmare with a red cloth over her muzzle, her black mane tied up in a topknot and a red cape flowing behind her walked in. She knelt and clenched a golden claw-cladded hand over her heart.

“My Queen, urgent news from the Guards at the Northern Passage. You need to hear this immediately. Code Black.”

Celestia’s ears perked upright as her wings shuffled. She set the twins down and urged them towards the doors.

“Guards, see Flurry Heart and Skyla to their room,” she told the Guards. “Girls, I’m very sorry but this is an emergency. I’ll tuck you both in when I’m done.”

The twins exchanged a worried glance but followed the Guards anyways.

With that, she ushered the grey Guardsmare to an adjacent room from the throne, the dim of the night grasping them as darkness enveloped the side room, torches flickering out as Celestia lit the room with only her horn.

“Speak, Captain Raven.”

“My Queen, Princess Gleaming Shield arrived with three Crystal Guards in tow nearly three hours ago,” she said, standing upright and looking her in the eye.

“Three hours ago? What’s happened? Why wasn’t she brought here?”

“She requested to be quarantined alongside her fellow Crystal warriors. She spoke of some corruption inflicted upon her wife, and how Queen Umbra ambushed her on their way here. After the Apothecaries made their tests, they found that… she carries Chaos, ma’am. The Old Ones have taken Umbra, Chrysalis, and even Cadance. Gleaming is fearing that her fall is imminent, but warned that several other townships to the North and East have fallen already, and-”

“Seal off the city’s perimeter and have Gleaming and her troops brought to the lowest levels of our warded dungeons,” Celestia said, igniting a spell.

The room burst with light as ancient runes were powered once more, five thrones rising from the ground, each bearing a different symbol of some kind. Her fingers traced the outline of a Kraken, broken and faded compared to the others.

“We’re out of time. The Awakening is upon us.”

Equestrian Battle Maidens

by SonicBlitz18

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11