Crash landed

//// WARNING: SEVERE CRASH DAMAGE SUSTAINED! ////

///PASSENGER CAPACITY: UNKNOWN///

//// INTERNAL FUNCTIONALITY AT 17%////

/// ATTEMPTING SYSTEM REPAIR......... ERROR: SELF-REPAIR SYSTEMS OFFLINE///

//// COMMUNICATIONS RELAY FUNCTIONALITY AT 87%: ATTEMPTING TO CONTACT CAPITAL CITY ROMULIOS FOR RESCUE...... ATTEMPT FAILED. REASON: COULD NOT PINPOINT ROMULIOS RADIO FREQUENCY///

/// WARNING: POWER LEVEL CRITICAL, ARC ELEMENTAL REACTOR COMPROMISED: ENTERING LOW POWER MODE///

/// ACTIVATING SOS BEACON... AWAITING RESCUE///

Those words were the first thing I saw when I came to. They were big, red, and bold and took up most of the cockpit windshield, which was cracked like a horrific spiderweb of broken glass. The windshield spanned the majority of the front and sides of me. But only gave a view of dirt and grass that almost covered the entirety of the glass save for the top. I could see dim forms of treetops and leaves through my blurred vision. I was hanging slumped forward in my seat, an X-shaped seatbelt strapped over my chest. My head rested on a set of steering handles that protruded from the central dash. The steering handle was shaped like an H and had two red buttons on the tips where the thumbs would rest just below. The dash it stuck out of was littered with many dim buttons and controls, along with throttle and engine angle levers to the sides of my seat just next to the armrests.

I tried to sit up, but my head pounded with extreme agony. Causing me to reflex and grip my head with both hands, trying to stop the pain, wincing as I did so. I slowly but surely sat up and leaned back in my chair as my pounding head continued without slowing. My chest felt heavy, and it was hard to breathe. I had no idea what had happened or how I got to where I was. The pain in my head was too much for me even to think, and to try simply made the pain worse. My mouth was dry, and I desperately craved water. My stomach growled, begging for sustenance. I felt my whole world was tilted sideways, only to realize it was actually tilted sideways.

I looked around the cockpit slowly, trying not to move my head too much, when my eyes fell on a humanoid figure lying across the dash in front of a seat that was a few feet away from me. It was some form of Specter, an advanced robotic unit made in my home city. That's all I could remember through the pain. The glass in front of the Specter that made up the windshield was cracked to a central point just below its head, which was broken and smushed. Looking at the seat, the straps where the seatbelt was attached to the seat were torn and mangled. Even in my dazed state, I could tell what had happened. The Specter was strapped in when the seatbelt gave away and was ejected from the seat, smashing into the windshield. But I didn't know how we crashed. I just stared at the flashing red letters on the windshield.

Suddenly my strength gave out, and I lurched forward in my chair as gravity took hold. The crash seemed to put the aircraft at an angle. The seat belt stopped me from falling too far, but the sudden yank on my chest caused me to cough and wheeze. The heaviness I felt before not turned into throbbing agony. The seat belt saved me from the Specter's fate, but not before breaking some ribs. I took hold of the buckle that bound me to the chair and braced myself, holding my free arm forward to stop my fall. And unbuckled the seatbelt.

Gravity took me the rest of the way down. My arm prevented me from hitting the dash and steering handle. But I couldn't stop myself from bouncing off and rolling out of my seat in my weakened state. Taking me to the floor and hitting my head on it. The hit jogged forth what felt like a small lifetime's worth of memories. The war, the wall on the front lines, great red lighting striking down from jet black thunder clouds spawning from the firey mushroom clouds of the Cataclysm bomb as it vaporized the city where I grew up. I remember crying, holding my dad as he told me to run. He had to have Romulus drag me into this plane to ensure my safety. The last thing I heard from him was, "Be better than us." I remember watching the bomb go off as Romulus flew as fast as he could. The red lightning and the shockwave hit us, and then... nothing.

It was too much, the wave of memories, the sudden emotions. I started crying, screaming, and pounding my fist against the cold metal floor. I screamed until my lungs gave out, and I cried until my eyes had no tears to give. I pounded until my body went limp from exhaustion. It all felt like it happened only a few moments ago. It all felt fresh. I always had a direction, a path, or a choice I could make. Now, I had nothing. I felt the darkness and pain overwhelm me as I slipped back into a dreadful slumber.

When I felt I came to. It was dark, pitch black, with a dark emerald green and black floor stretching out as far as the eye could see. Small bits of emerald mist floated from the floor like weak flames. Shards of glass floated through the air with the same emerald green glowing around the edges. Inside those shards, I swore I saw my own memories in short glimpses. The was no sound, not even an echo. The only sound to be heard was my own breathing. I thought to myself, "Is this the afterlife?" I was standing but fell to a sitting position, leaning against what felt like a wall. But when I looked behind me, there was nothing there. My head was still swarming with the flood of heart-wrenching memories. I couldn't do anything before I wrangled them under control. I couldn't think straight.

I knew what to do in this, thankfully. Letting your body rest while you tackled issues of the mind both inside yourself and in the real world was a common practice among the more magically talented back home... Home, I just couldn't grasp the concept that the home I grew up in, a Monument to the ages that stood for over Five Thousand Years, was gone. A testament to the first king of Romulios, Merlin. The first and still, to this day, the most mighty elemental mage in history. I thought nothing would ever befall my home. Yet, here I am. Passed out in a plane that crash-landed in an area of unknown territory. Picking apart the shards of my own memories in a Mindwalk because I couldn't function right in the real world as long as they tormented me. Where did we go wrong?

"My word, Is this truly a dream? This place is more fractured and alien than any dream I've ever visited." I heard a voice from the darkness. A voice I had never heard before. Female, to be sure, and the way the voice carried itself. One of high esteem.

"Hello? Who's there?" I called out, not being able to see anything other than myself. A dim purple mist crept around me, and from the dark stepped forward... A large dark blue unicorn? And one with wings on top of that. The mane and tale looked like a starlit night and moved like a wind was blowing it around. But I felt no wind at all. I wasn't really surprised. Back home, we had way weirder things like this that we kept as pets. But It spoke upon seeing me.

"How interesting," The winged Unicorn said, eyeing me curiously. "In my years of dream walking, I've never encountered a creature of the likes of you."

I stayed quiet. I assured myself that this was some form of malcontent within my mind. I was dealing with more than a few of those at the moment. I knew that no equine of any kind could do anything considered to be 'dream walking.' I conjured a purging rune behind the winged unicorn, and with a simple cast, it disappeared with a flash. No noise, just gone.

When I awoke from my mind walk, my head was clearer and more focused. I silently thanked my inner self for giving me the time to wrangle myself under control. My head still hurt from me hitting the floor, but my train of thought was an actual train and not crashed on the side of the track. I wiped my face as it still felt freshly wet with tears. I must've been crying in my sleep, no matter. I picked up my head and looked around. It was much darker within the cockpit of the plane than before. Outside, just above where the grand mound of dirt collected from the crash. It was pitch black.

I stumbled to my feet, bracing myself on the chair I once sat in. I looked over to my co-pilot, Which I now recognized as what I considered my brother and personal advisor to the throne of my Kingdom. Romulus. A super advanced specter that served the Kingdom since king merlin himself. His model was more human-like besides his triangular head. His once square blue eyes had little white dots in them with shutters that opened and closed. Giving the feel of natural eyes. His body was the sleekest and most well-curved out of all the specters I had known back in the war. He also had full coverage from his internal components vs. other models with shoulder or rear knee joints showing. On top of his head were two pointed rods that angled acutely, moving and shifting like ears or radio antennae, But now were dead and limp, laying on the sides of his smashed head.

I ran over to the downed Specter as fast as my dazed body would let me. I dragged him off the dash with strained tugs until he unceremoniously fell to the floor. I hooked my arms under his metal shoulders and dragged him to the wall, and propped him sitting against it. I crouched beside and examined the extent of the damage.

His head was crushed like a tin can under boot. The triangular shape that resembled a cheese wedge now looked like a smashed pizza slice. The shudders and glass that were his eyes were shattered and smushed. The antennae that were his ears were dangling to the sides of his head like a droopy-eared dog, barely hanging on. His neck was smashed into the chest, making the head look like it tried to retract into the body. His chest plate was bursting forward awkwardly, most likely due to the neck that slammed downward into his internal components pushing everything around.

I felt more tears fall down my face as I gazed upon the damage. The last part of my family was dead in front of me. And there was nothing I could do...

"WAIT" I yelled, pulling back his head and digging into what would be the backside of his neck. I remembered that in order for Romulus to have his own personality inside a specter and not just control it. He needed a specially made AI chip that could be inserted into any specter for use. And said slot for said chip is neigh indestructible, capable of surviving a full force missile. So my only hope is that I can get access to the chip and hopefully repair the current chassis. If not, make a new one for Romulus.

Only one issue, the chip slot is in the neck, Which is currently smushed into the innards of Romulus's chest. No matter how hard I pried, bent, tugged, and ripped. I couldn't get access to the chip. All the metal and wiring mushed together like it was. I couldn't possibly get through it without the proper tools. A plasma saw would be an excellent place to start, seeing as I need to get through his durable chest plate. My short burst of hope was short-lived, however. This craft was packed and sent out in such a hurry due to the city's impending destruction that there were no such tools on board. Only our most important pieces of culture and relics pass down through the ages. So, for now, the best thing I could do is hold out hope until I got the resources I needed to fix Romulus. Which wouldn't be possible without power.

"Ok, one thing at a time. Let's get the power on first." I mumbled to myself. Walking over to a square-shaped panel in the middle of the aircraft. Using a screwdriver, I leveraged the floor panel high enough to get my fingers under. I pulled the panel till it sat on its side and pushed it away, resulting in a loud crash as it hit the metal floor, which made my ears ring and my head throb. I held my head with both hands, trying to stop the ringing until it faded and I regained my focus.

Underneath the panel was a collection of wiring and advanced mechanical parts. I knew the ins and outs of this ship well. I helped design it alongside my father and chief engineer. So I knew I needed to get into the ship's innards to fix the arc element reactor. In between the mesh of parts was a small crawlspace, just big enough for me to squeeze through. I dipped my head into the small space and looked around. It was darker than the cockpit. I Needed light, but nothing had power. I sighed and thought hard about a spell, like headlights for eyes. Calling upon the powers of fire and a sigil that held the runes that matched what I needed. My head pounded in resentment of using magic, and I had yet to cast the spell. As I cast the spell, the same sigil of runes appeared over my eyes, and they quickly fizzled. Replaced by twin beams of light that shot forward. Illuminating wherever my eyes pointed.

The long shallow crawlspace was short and turned at the end. More wiring and lifeless mechanical lined the walls. The whole space reminded me of an eerie crypt of dead machinery. I was not deterred and started to crawl into the space. Sucking in my stomach for an easier fit. The floor was cold to the touch as I crawled, coughing on the dust that had gathered in the dead machinery. I continued down the turn at the end of the path. The space opened up slightly, and a single glass cylinder was in the center of the room, no bigger than my thigh. Metal parts were connected to the top and bottom. There were three softly glowing blue sparks inside of it. Occasionally arcing a small bolt of electricity to one or the other. But it was very dim and lacked the energy they usually had. The exterior of the glass was visibly cracked, and no small crack it was.

As I approached the arc elemental canister, I felt my hair stand on edge. Not from fear but rather from the static electricity that had been building up in this room. The canister is supposed to provide a stable and self-sustaining environment that keeps the arc elementals alive since they can not survive long exposure to air. That crack had broken the seal and was not only causing the lack of power but was also killing the elementals.

I hastily crawled to the containment unit and held my hands a few inches from the glass. The three elementals inside brightened up a tad and made a few harmonical beeps at my approach. Even though they weren't capable of English, I could tell they were happy to see me. "Good to see you guys as well. Yeah I know im late. Lemme work my magic here, and you guys will be fine."

Another set of harmonic beeps flew from the elements in response. "Yes, that was a joke. Now let me focus." I responded. Focusing a strong fire rune on the tip of my right finger. Picturing a bright blue blowtorch in my mind before casting. The result was the same blowtorch flame erupting from the rune on my finger as the rune rotated slowly. Holding the flame to the glass and melting the cracks together with extreme heat. It took some time and a few more spells to seal the crack fully, but it was better than nothing.

"Ok guys, it should be good to go." I waited a few moments for the lightning surge from within the canister. But only got a few beeps instead. "Shit, I need to give you all a boost? The things I do for you." I sighed and I got an Instant loud series of Beeps from the elementals that made my headache hurt even more.

"Hey, hey! Calm your sparky asses! I was making a joke, sheesh." I said, charging a lightning rune on my hand, sucking in the excess static electricity in the air in a ball of electricity in the palm of my hand. I deposited the ball into a small tube just below the canister. There was a small surge inside the canister as sparks of electricity erupted from the top and bottom of its interior. Arcing off the elementals inside as the whole plane shook. The plane's interior hummed to life as the light returned, allowing me to end my eye-light spell. I thanked the elementals before crawling back out the way I came.

When I reached the access vent I used to get into the power room. Light was pouring in from the cockpit room. I pulled myself out, getting partially blinded by the sudden light so much that I held a hand to block out the light. "Set interior lighting to dark mode," I said aloud. The lights dimmed heavily and sat at a much more comfortable brightness for my eyes. My eyes adjusted to the new setting and fell upon Romulus's body. Causing some depression to return. My sight drifted to the main dash where I first woke up. The screen had reset and was in calibration mode. After covering up the access vent. I went and sat back down in my seat.

I watched as systems were tested and calibrated, life support, engines, and communications. Several systems were straight up offline. Others partially worked, like the radio and long-distance GPS. However, the GPS couldn't pinpoint our location. Due to a 'lack of satellite connection,' which was odd. The satellites were built to stay in the atmosphere until we called them back down. They had a solar array that kept them powered and their own navigation system, which let them keep themselves in the correct orbit path. Plus, Volundra didn't have any weapons that reached that high in orbit. So this error really puzzled me. Even the atmospheric test and air quality were off. Showing to be better than some of the best results from before the war. Which just simply wasn't possible.

The system finished booting and ran a local terrain scan to see if it could match it with any maps in the database. It was the best it could do without Satellite. "In the meantime, I suppose I could take a look outside. Get familiar with my surroundings." I said. Getting up and walking to the rear of the craft. A small red handle hung from the ceiling on a small mechanical arm. I gripped it firmly and pulled it down. The lever gave way a few inches and retracted into the ceiling, pulling itself from my hand. There was a loud hiss of pressure as the blank wall I was staring at lowered slowly like a ramp until it opened completely. A rush of fresh, cold air hit me In the face like a bucket of ice. It felt great. Fantastic even! I've never felt such fresh air since before the war. The war back home had tainted the air with violence and death you could taste with every breath. Here, however, it was clean like a fresh mountain stream. I loved it.

I blinked back into reality when I realized I was blankly staring into pitch-black woods. It was clearly night. That much was obvious. But the was no moonlight, only lightly glowing green fungus and mushrooms along the stumps of certain trees across the small clearing where my aircraft had crashed. The ruptured dirt path from the craft's initial impact dredged the ground among uprooted tree roots and foliage. I stepped out of the craft and planted my feet in the fresh dirt of the crash path. I looked up, expecting to see the pitch-black thunderheads that permanently blackened the skies back home. After the first cataclysm bomb went off, the sky itself rebelled against all forms of life. Forming a terrible storm of red lightning and pitch-black thunderheads that blocked the sun's light from ever reaching the surface. The lightning always struck true and ignored the laws of normal lightning. Striking any living creature that happened to be outside rather than striking the highest possible point.

Instead, however, I only saw thick leaves and even thicker branches. The leaves glowed softly with light and had no gaps in between to show what was on the other side. I cocked my head in both interest and confusion. These trees should be charred and black first off. And second, why did this forest have such a perfect leaf top that blocked out the sky? I scanned this leafy roof all across the small clearing my craft landed in. And there was no break from where my craft should have broken through from, which was strange. I followed the crash path to the edge of the clearing and gazed upon mangled trees and branches back up into the leafy ceiling, and still, there was no hole from where my craft would have fallen through.

"How in the world?" I mumbled to myself. Investigating the area further. I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard a low growl emanate from the woods. I stepped back, not taking my eyes off where the noise was coming from. A small patch of glowing mushrooms on and between two large trees.

That's when I saw the eyes, a pair of glowing green eyes that blended in with glowing fungi. The only reason I even noticed it was when they moved. Slowly but surely, they crept around the edge of the clearing. Staring at me. I couldn't see the beast's body, but it was stalking me for sure. Getting a read on me before making a move. Something predators do when hunting a new form of prey.

"SHOW YOURSELF, BEAST!" I yelled, preparing a fire rune in my head and focusing it on my hand, not casting it yet. Most creatures of the night don't like fire. So when dealing with a new creature. Always test its fear of fire.

The beast graciously accepted my proposition and stepped forth from its hiding place. A large wooden form of a wolf showed itself in the dim lighting. Its splinter-like teeth drooled in a glowing green slobber. Leaves protruded from its head like ears. Its whole body looked as though it was composed of old tree logs and moss. I had seen many different species of wolf and coyote before. But this thing was something else entirely. And it was big, VERY big. Practically the same size as the wandering dire hounds of the eastern planes that feasted on the wild six-horned bison.

I was still in awe of the creature when it leaped forward into the air toward me. My military reflexes kicked in as I swung the hand with the rune at the beast. I pictured a roaring fireball before casting it. And as such, a large fireball flew from my hand and struck the beast mid-air. Knocking it to the ground with a whimper as it ran back into the forest. The flames from the blast dying out before it dashed into the night.

I let go of a breath I didn't know I was holding in before turning and returning to my craft. Hitting the lever on the way in to seal the ramp door. I had questions, yes, but they can wait until I get my bearings on where the hell I am. And avoid the giant wolves made of wood and bark. The holographic screen showed it completed the scans and compared them to several maps. I sat down in my seat and watched as one map after another popped up on the screen. Slowly increasing in speed until I couldn't make out the maps anymore. Finally, the screen showed a set of words that made my already wild confusion skyrocket.

// SCAN COMPARISON COMPLETE: LOCAL TERRAIN MATCHES NO KNOWN LOCATION IN GEOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE//

Baffled, I stood up and began pacing. We have used satellites over the last three thousand years since their inception to map the entire world down to every mountain peak, forest, and ocean. And yet we landed somewhere we had yet to see? It was impossible. There were six different kings before my father's conception, and we had mapped the entire world as far as we knew. I looked back at the screen for a moment before sitting back down. I pressed a blue button on the side of the chair's right arm that brought up a smaller holographic screen in front of me with a keyboard and menu. I used it to cull the final video log of one of the outer hull cameras before the crash.

The video popped up on the main screen. The scene was familiar as it should be, Pitch black skies, blood red lighting thrashing around the sky as the craft swooped in all directions dodging it. The circular disc-like thrusters in the wings rotating and twisting with each twist and turn. All around the craft in every direction but the rear was the violent crashing ocean. In the distance to the rear of the craft. Were the mainland and the small pixel of the city of Romulios upon it, with a bright light trailing smoke coming down just above it. There was a blinding flash a moment later, and an enormous mushroom cloud of lightning and fire you could have imagined erupted on top of the city. The sight caused my heart to stop and me to clench my chest in fear and shock. The wave of fire and lightning from the base zoomed towards the craft with such incredible speed it was upon it in seconds. Just before the impact from the wall of fire, A bolt of lightning struck one of the two thrusters. Timing perfectly with the collision of the wall of destruction from the cataclysm bomb. The camera glitched violently with pixels and colors for a few moments before clearing up. Showing a bright blue sky and a dark green and somewhat menacing forest below. It was a completely different area than just moments prior. The thruster that was struck by lightning was on far, and the craft rapidly descended before making an impact on the ground. Crashing through trees and such before movement settled, and the craft just sat in the woods.

The recording ended, and I had more questions than answers. "Instant teleportation?" I questioned, rubbing my chin. "Using the elemental runes, we could make short-range portals. Long range if we link them to archways. But never could we just pop and go without a warp drive. And even then, that was highly experimental and was only used on a handful of naval craft. And the sudden change in scenery... What could have happened?" I thought hard for a moment. Trying to connect the dots.

Then a realization dawned on me that made every inconsistency make sense. "Were not in the same realm anymore!" I gasped.

First Contact

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Another realm?! Holy shit! Im in another realm! My people knew another realm or realms at least existed, thanks to the Elementals. They came forth from the Primordial realm, which lays over all others like a sheet. They were always there in our world, just on a different plane so that we couldn't see them. At least until Merlin made the pact that granted us our extended lifespans. But never did our people even think to question if there were whole other realms beyond our own. But now that I think about it, they did somewhat hint at it. Saying that new lands were beyond the veil. They didn't mean the horizon. They were the founders of creation, after all. We knew well that there were other planets among the stars. But we never had a reason to go to them. We had everything we needed and more on Earth, thanks to Merlin's pact with the Elementals. Even so, due to the circumstances and culling more data from both the world and the crash logs. I can assuredly say that we crossed the veil and are now in the unknown territory of the realms.

Of course, it didn't matter much after my third day. I had lost my mind, not due to the loneliness but rather the crippling Trauma and depression that did it. I tried to suppress such emotions to figure things out at my own pace using memory and emotion-blocking spells. But my mind was the tool that created such blockers. But it was also the very thing that was the source of my torture. So after three days, all the blockers and spells failed, and I descended into a state lacking self-preservation. I overate my rations in bulk, eating days' worth of food in a few hours until I threw up. Then ate more anyway. I mainly cried, screamed, and slept. Where I then also screamed and cried due to the nightmares. I was simply broken and didn't want to live anymore. I couldn't even do simple magic. My mind was so fragmented. For an individual to even remotely cast elemental runes, they needed at least a Somewhat stable train of thought. Something that I lacked at the moment. That winged unicorn kept showing up in my dreams, and every time it did. I removed it. It was another malcontent I needed to manage along with the rest.

After the first month, the food ran out, and shortly after that, the water started to go as well. I needed to do something. I knew that. But I just didn't. Every thought, every action, every decision, just devolved into a depressive state that I didn't do anything. I couldn't just accept it, either. My family was dead, my kingdom was gone, and for all I knew. I was the only survivor, which didn't help me either. The guilt that I got away from absolute destruction but the rest of my home, no, my RACE, didn't get the second chance that I did. Made me feel even worse. It should've been anyone else. Not the failure of a general that I was that couldn't win a war fast enough to stop the extermination of my species. Hell, I was never meant to be a general in the first place. I was a prince, for fucks sake. I thought it was my duty to help our soldiers on the front line. I didn't even know the tiniest bit of what was in store for me. And yet I still was the best tactician that my people had seen. And even so, we still lost everything. I... lost everything.

I even took the liberty to make gravestones for my family. It just seemed right to give them someplace to rest. I used scrap element steel from the crash to make the crosses that marked their grave. Element steel didn't rust or decay, so they would have been memorialized till the end of time, or at least until the earth shifted enough to knock them over. I carved their names into them as well. Suppose anyone found these graves after I had passed. I wanted them to remember their names, Tyrus, Vara, and Meera. I spent a lot of time in front of those graves, crying and apologizing for being unable to save our kind. Looking back on that time now still makes me sad to this day.

One morning, I crawled out of bed and looked at Romulus's lifeless body. Still in the same position I had left him in, sitting on the floor against the wall. "What would you think of me now, old friend..." I whispered to myself. More tears streaked down my face as I plopped my head into my hands. After moments of crying, I picked my head up and looked at him again. As if gaining clarity for the first time in a lifetime. I shot up and walked to one of the walls of the aircraft that held an interior storage locker. I pressed a button along its side, and the wall spilt down the middle sideways. Two metal panels, one folding up and the other down, opened to reveal a wall with ten books hanging from it. Alternating diagonally up and down. They all looked the same, covered in element runes, and glowed with elemental energy. These were the last ten Unbound Arcanums in existence. They were books that held every piece of literature, past, present, and future, in one book. A library in one's hand. Suppose anyone wrote a book, scroll, spell, or anything. The book would detect it and catalog it with such precision and accuracy. It would appear in its table of contents. Only A hundred and twenty were made at my kingdom's founding, during the pact Merlin made with the elementals. Only those who were 'unbound' could access these books and their near-infinite knowledge. No mage alive, not even Merlin, could read the whole thing within one five-hundred-year lifespan. It was one of Merlin's greatest works, next to his puzzle box and Romulus.

My father entrusted me with them, along with several other relics of my people's history, before we fled the kingdom. His reasoning was to preserve our people's culture and wisdom after our downfall. I picked one of the books off the walls and opened it, using its built-in magic. I began a spell that would feed off the book's energy rather than my own. Mine was too unstable to keep any spell alive for longer than a few moments. I planned to separate my mind into parts, Conscious and subconscious. In my conscious mind, I would program with magic to work off of one-word phrases such as food, water, sleep, fight, etc. To keep my body alive. While my subconscious mind is where I would throw my self-awareness and try my best to process or at least manage my unfathomable depression. Or at least get it to a state where I could function without breaking down.

The spell was complex and hard to get every rune to work the way it should within the sigil. This was an entirely new spell, after all. No one had ever gotten this broken enough to butcher their own mind in such a way. But by the night's end. It worked... after I passed out.

This new situation would definitely take some getting used to. If you ever rode the passenger side in a car with someone else driving. And you just stared out the windows as the other person drove you wherever you were going. You knew where you were going and what you were feeling. But you just didn't have control? That's what it felt like. Just the windows were my body's eyes. My self-aware side of my consciousness resided in the same mind world where shards of memory floated in the air like shards of glass. Every covered in a faint green. But now, a large window showed me whatever my body looked at. I had no hands on the wheel, but my body did what the spell told it to do, survive.

Eight months have passed since that day, and things haven't gotten much better for my sanity. I knew trying to tackle whatever was going on in my head would be... difficult. But I was trying, at least. My body, however, has never looked better. It kept itself alive and then some. I've never looked so fit before. Not to mention how weird it was being a passenger in your own body. It wore armor, it bore my dad's longsword that had been passed down through Merlin's lineage of kings, and it managed to find my Hand cannon revolver both me and my father worked on in the crash wreckage. It hunted, gathered water, and fought off barkhounds and stone chickens when needed. That's what I called the wolves made of wood, barkhounds. The stone chickens were interesting, though. Their eyes had the ability to turn other living things to stone. The first time I ran into one, I happened to be wearing my pilot's helmet, so my face was completely covered. This is how I found it needed a direct line of sight to one's eyes for the turning of stone to take effect. The flash from the bird's eyes reflected off my helmet lenses and turned itself into stone. I thought it was kinda funny but also a tad bit fucked up.

My body also took the liberty to explore the forest, which I found to be somewhat alive. I mean, of course, it was a forest. They're meant to be alive. But I mean sentient in some way. It always looked different, no matter how much I backtracked. I had to use my wrist pad to pinpoint my aircraft's location since I couldn't go off of landmarks. Since everything seemed to change after I walked through it. I also tried to leave the forest on more than one occasion, I would just pick a direction and walk for hours at a time. But then I'd check my map. It looked like I'd gone in a big fucking circle. It's like it didn't want me to leave, which was spooky. My body even tried climbing one of the trees to figure out what was around us, but the leaf ceiling was surprisingly sturdy. I could break through it even by force, yet the wind could rustle the leaves like it was nothing. Once again, spooky.

At the moment, my body was hunting for food. I held a spear crafted from materials from the crash and used it as a walking stick. Finding food here wasn't easy. Most of the animals were small critters, and I didn't know fuck all about the plants and which ones were safe to eat. The most common food here was the stone chickens. And they didn't taste bad when cooked right. I hiked for a few hours before stumbling upon a second clearing instead of a crashed plane in it. There was a large dead tree in the very center of it. It looked like it had been dead for some time. No leaves dotted the branches. The leaf ceiling stretched over the tree, not even letting its dead branches break through the top. I was intrigued by the tree, but I was not in control. My body crouched down and crawled forward. Its eyes are set upon a large iguana resting on one of the large roots of the dead tree. It readied the spear, took aim, and threw it. Impaling the lizard onto the root through its midsection. The lizard spasmed for a second before going limp.

My body rushed over, removed the spear from the lizard, and picked it up by its tail before placing it in a hunting bag with a few other small critters. My body made its way to leave, having finished its hunt. But was stopped by the glowing eyes of a barkhound emerging from the woodwork. He readied his spear, waiting for it to pounce. But it only circled the edge of the tree line, staring me down. Then like moths to a flame, One after another, more hounds emerged from the woodwork. Soon there were two dozen circling me. I was screaming at my body to run, as there have never been this many grouped up like this. They only ever traveled in groups of two or three. But I was not in control. For the first time, I wished for the spell to end. But it was not my choice to make this day.

The ensuing battle was intense. My body's natural training and muscle memory from the war is the only reason it ever stood a chance. The spear was quickly made useless after one of the hounds bit it in two. So I had to rely on my sword for most of the fight. One after another, it felled hound after hound. But still, their superior numbers gave them an advantage. More than once did one pounce and bite into my armor only to be thrown across the field, along with the fact that more started emerging from the woodwork like rats drawn to cheese. It only took one, however, to cripple me. One sunk its teeth into my midsection and managed to slip its teeth in between the plating of my armor into the flesh underneath. It picked me up and trashed me around before throwing me into the dead tree, making me lose my grip on my sword as it flew, stabbing into the ground a few yards away. I could feel the pain and the blood spilling from my new wound in my midsection. The last few wolves charged me all at once. Seeing no other option, my body drew my hand cannon and fired away, felling the few remaining wolves by putting three-inch holes in them.

My body sat there, unmoving. It tried to stand up but couldn't find the strength. I could feel the weakness from the blood loss, the mix of pain and numbness from my back against the tree. Something must have been broken. My head tipped back and to the side, as it went numb. My hand relaxed, loosely dropping my hand cannon onto the roots. I screamed from within my own body to stay awake as my vision faded to black. But to no avail, as unconsciousness took hold.

I heard screaming, sounds of war, and gunfire filled my nightmares. Explosions and death, fire, and chaos, Large mechs stomped forward, firing autocannons that punched through tank armor. Missles and bombs laid waste to whole detachments of men. Smoke and ash of the fallen filled my lungs. Jets and fighters roared through the air as another battle happened in the sky. Then all as silent as a loud boom deafened all, and a rush of air swept past me. A wall of fire rushed towards me, I tried to run, but my legs would not move. I stared in fear as certain death called to me. I waited in horror as the whole battlefield was engulfed in fire.

I snapped awake in a heavy, breathing panic right as the wall fire was about to hit me in an abrupt cut. The sound of gunfire and explosions ceased, but the screaming and yelling did not. My helmet visor was turned off, most likely due to the fact I was unconscious. It probably shut itself down. I reached my hand to the side of the helmet while listening to the yelling. It was only then that I realized I was in control of my body again. The spell ceased, or was it broken? I don't know. My helmet booted to life as my full vision returned.

Did I see... horses? I blinked in confusion as I assessed my situation. I saw multiple horses, roughly eight or so. Fully dressed in golden armor with helmets with brush mohawks like the spartans of the bronze era. I looked closer and found unicorns among them, Holding spears and halberds in magical energy. Others had them strapped to their armor. Two stood out among the rest. One unicorn also had armor but was a mix of purple and gold with white fur and a cobalt blue mane. The other, also a unicorn, had no armor at all and had purple fur with a dark indigo mane with streaks of purple and pink. The purple one had an odd symbol on its flank of a twinkling star.

I was so busy observing these creatures that I failed to realize that they were under attack. It took a barkhound rushing out of the forest and sinking its teeth into one horse's neck, and dragging him off into the woods, screaming as the two unicorns I mentioned blasted energy bolts at the hound. I finally understood the seriousness of the situation. No wonder none of them were facing me. There were several bloodstains in the area, along with several hounds running wildly, trying to get close enough to sink their teeth in along with several dead hounds all over the place from both my previous battle and this one.

The white armored unicorn shouted ferociously as he blasted a hound away with a pink energy blast from his horn. "Why are there so many of these things!?"

The pink unicorn, hearing the white ones question as she also fended off her attackers. Responded, "I don't know! They never group up anywhere near this much. They normally travel in groups of two or three! They don't even attack groups of this size, for celestias sake!"

I tried to get up but was quickly reminded by the pain in my midsection and back. Instead, I pushed myself using my legs against the dead tree, trying to get them under me and using the tree as a brace. It worked, but it was gruesome and painful. I slowly got to my feet, Clutching my still bleeding wound in my stomach. What I found odd about this whole ordeal was I was unusually calm and collected. My thoughts were clear, and nothing dared disturb them even though fighting was going on. I focused a rune of fire in my hand and pressed it to my wound. I felt searing pain as I cast it, burning the wound shut. I leaned over, picked my hand cannon off the roots, and returned it to its holster.

I looked back to the horses fighting for their lives to see a hound leap and tackle the purple, un-armored unicorn to the ground. Its voice screamed as she called for help.

"TWILIGHT!" I heard the white unicorn yell. His voice was filled with concern as he charged to the unicorn's aid only to be tackled to the side by another hound.

I watched as the hound on top of the unicorn, bearing its teeth as it slobbered over the unicorn as she screamed for help. Using her hooves to keep the creature back. My gaze drifted as I saw my dad's sword sticking out of the ground, halfway between her and me. I felt a surge of adrenaline hit me as I charged forward and grabbed the blade's handle as I ran. I put it into position and plunged it into the beast's chest on top of the unicorn as the force from my charge sent it back. I tumbled over it and landed feet first on the ground, sword still in hand. I looked up to see the hounds staring at me. Suddenly I was their focus as they abandoned their hunt on the horses. I was separated from the main group of horses and was circled by half a dozen hounds. For some reason, I smiled.

"BRING IT ON!" I yelled, pointing my sword into the air, using a fire rune to set it ablaze. I lowered and spun into a whirlwind, Sending a slash of fire in all directions as it collided with the hounds. They were undeterred, charging me once they recovered. I took my stance, laying my blade flat across my left forearm and pointing the blade out over my elbow. Holding the handle with my right hand. I charged the nearest one, slashing through its side as the cracking and splintering sound of wood sounded from its midsection. These creatures were naturally weak to fire, which made them easier to slice through with my sword ablaze.

I turned on another, adrenaline fueling my strikes as I felled one after another. Each strike seared through the wooden hides of the beast. But even I got caught up in the moment. My emotions took over my will as anger fueled each strike after some time. The same emotions I've been trying to stave off for the past eight months came forth in this one battle. I had no plan anymore, just violence mixed with Nine years of war-related training and might. But it left my guard open. I slashed through another one of these hounds, wielding the sword with one hand and carrying it with my built-up momentum as I spun and drove it into the beast's head. Another hound took the opportunity to clamp down on my left arm, sinking its teeth into the plating and crushing the armor into my flesh. It reared onto its hind legs, taking me into the air as it slammed me into the ground. I lost my grip on my sword as it reared up again and began thrashing me around.

I reached my other hand and punched as hard as possible into the beast's right eye. Casting a fire spell through my fist and blowing apart its head from the inside with a firey explosion. Knocking me to the ground. I stumbled back to my feet, only to have another hound clench its teeth around my right calf, and once again, I was being thrashed around. I cursed at the hound as I threw a fireball into its face. Causing it to let go of my leg at a rather unfortunate time, launching me through the air and landing on a fall tree log. I stumbled to my feet again. My right leg was shaking violently as it tried to keep me upright, my torn calf muscles barely holding on.

I felt the pain hit for the first time during this whole fight, and I almost dropped. Gasping for air and coughing up blood violently. I grabbed at my chest with my good arm. I stared blankly at the hounds slowly approaching me. An idea suddenly popped into my head. I brought around my left arm as best as possible, opened my wrist pad, and opened the volume settings as fast as possible. I looked back to the hounds closing in and went back to the volume settings. Turning off the bass and cranking the pitch and volume to the max. The resulting high pitch noise that I could barely hear stopped the hounds in their tracks. They pawed and clawed at their heads as they whimpered and whined. Rolling into their sides, squirming in discontent.

"GO ON, GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE! ALL OF YOU!" I shouted, slowly limping towards the hound. Holding up my left arm with my right to face them as they scrambled to their paws and ran back into the forest. I looked around, and no more hounds were in sight. The sudden burst of wit just saved my own ass as I sighed in relief. A dog, no matter how flashy, will have the weaknesses of a dog.

Suddenly my crippled leg gave out from under me, and I plummeted toward the ground. However, instead of colliding with terra-firma, I instead felt something warm and fuzzy brace itself against my back. Slowly it worked its way around my back until the same white unicorn from earlier was under my shoulder, propping me upright using his lower neck. He was looking at me with his light blue eyes. He was without his purple-mohawked helmet from before. He most likely lost it when he was tackled by the hound earlier.

"Easy now, You're alright. Let's sit you down," he said, carrying me over to the nearby log I was recently thrown into. Sitting me down on it gently.

"Okay, now let's take a look at you..." He said, looking over my wounds. His horn was glowing with pink magic. I felt the pain dull as the moments dragged on.

"Please tell me you have a way out of this fucking place?" I groaned. My mind was fuzzy, Feeling the full weight of the pain as the adrenaline wore off. Aching, soreness, and screaming stings erupted all over my body.

His eyes drifted back up to me, "Yeah, don't worry. We'll get you out of here." he said, his horns magic dulling. "Alright, it's just a numbing spell to help with the pain. We gotta get you back to canterlot as quick as possible."

I chuckled. "Heh, don't worry about me. I've lived through worse." I finished, coughing slightly.

The white unicorn smiled at my remark as the purple unicorn trotted up next to it. "Canterlot? Shouldn't we take him to ponyville since it's closer? These injuries look pretty severe. I don't know if it will make it to canterlot." She questioned, worry on her breath.

The white unicorn shook his head. "Its injuries are the exact reason why we need to get it to canterlot. Ponyville is great with medicine, but I doubt they know how to treat something like this if you, with all your bookworm expertise, didn't know what it was. The best option is to take it to canterlot for magical treatment, and maybe the princesses know what it is."

"Stop calling me it, " I groaned. "Im human, and im a guy. Being called 'it' just sounds weird. Let's just get the fuck outa-" I added, trying to get to my feet before falling back onto the log.

"Hey, take it easy!" The White unicorn demanded. "You clearly can't walk with your injuries." Then said as the unicorn turned to his side. "Here, let me carry you." He added, his horn lighting up again as I was lifted into the air, surrounded by a pink aura as I sat down on the unicorn's back. I adjusted myself until I was comfortably sitting on his armor as best as I could.

"Alright, troops, fall in!" he yelled. Five other horses and unicorns joined around me and the purple one. I swear I counted eight earlier. We were about to take off when I rested my right hand on my sword scabbard, which was empty.

"WAIT!" I shouted, causing alert to all the horses around me.

"What!? What is it?" The white unicorn said, jumping alert and looking around.

"Where's my sword?" I asked, looking around franticly.

The white unicorn turned its head to look at me, almost like an owl, which freaked me out a little. "We can get you another sword! We need to get out of here!"

"No, you don't understand! That sword was the last thing my dad gave me before he-" I started breathing so heavily I couldn't finish my sentence. I couldn't finish it if I wanted to anyway. The unicorn's eyes went wide, seeming to understand the words I couldn't say, and began looking around with me. Trotting slowly around the clearing. The purple one doing the same.

"There!" I shouted, pointing to a small glimmer of white under a hunk of wood from the barkhounds. The white unicorn lifted the hunk away with his magic and levitated the sword up to me. I hastily grabbed its handle and returned the blade to its scabbard. With no more delays, our small group dashed into the forest with such speed that I had to lower myself and grab onto the unicorn's mane not to fall off. I left my wristpads sound deterrent on to keep the bark hounds away. We ran and jumped over logs and rocks through the forest for a few moments. Until I saw a break in the woodwork, and I gasped as I saw rays of sunlight breaching through the branches.

My surprise was short-lived, as I saw branches, roots, and vines start tangling together to form a wall. Preventing our escape as we approached.

"What the heck!? The forest has NEVER done that before!" The purple unicorn shouted in shock.

I called upon what little magical energy I had left, focusing it into a sigil that held five fire runes in my right hand. I held my hand and clenched it like a claw as a fireball of yellow and orange appeared, then compressed itself smaller into a bright blue fireball burning even hotter. I tensed my mind even harder, compressing it even further until it was a small of pure white fire. I looked at the vine wall. We were rapidly approaching it.

"Whatever you do, don't stop running!" I cried.

"What!? What are you doing? The white unicorn asked worriedly.

"I WILL NOT BE HELD CAPTIVE IN THIS GOD-FORSAKEN FOREST ANY LONGER!" I yelled, hurling the fireball forward as it roared ahead of us, the small ball growing in size and brightness immensely before colliding with the plant wall. Erupting in an explosion of fire as it blasted away trees and ground alike. Clearing the way as it approached. The unicorn lept through the flames to the other side. I collapsed into his mane as the exhaustion from the spell hit me like a truck. Closing my eyes and trying to catch my breath.

We went on for a few moments before I could feel us slow to a stop. I rolled onto the ground off the unicorn with a thud and opened my eyes. I gazed at a beautiful blue sky with clouds dotted about. A small flock of birds flew overhead. And among all of that was the sun. A big bright ball in the sky, giving life and warmth to all of those under its gaze. I sat up and rested on my knees. I was sitting on a hill of grass. I heard the White unicorn talking to some of the others behind me. I unbuckled my right gauntlet and rested it on the ground as my free hand dragged through the grass. I gripped a bundle of it and ripped it from the ground. Using my still-weak left hand, I unclipped my helmet and took it off, letting it roll down the hill with a few soft thumps. I felt the wind hit my face as the cool air gave me some tranquillity. I held the handful of grass up to my nose and smelled it. It had been so long since I had seen, let alone smelled, fresh grass. I dropped my hand to my side as I gazed up at the sun.

"Oh, how I missed you, old friend..." I whispered. Not caring if the sun heard me or not.

"Hey, you okay?" I heard the unicorn ask as he sat down next to me.

I dropped my gaze to face him. The shape of the sun burned into my retinas. "I haven't seen the sun in almost ten years," I said, crying with both happiness and the sting from staring at the sun. I could see the utter shock on his face before returning to look at the sun. "And it's even more beautiful than I remember..."

I felt my head grow weak as I toppled to my side. I heard the unicorn next to me yell in concern as I fell. I was out before I even hit the ground.

Ponies? Interesting...

View Online

A high pitch steady beeping awoke me. I was expecting to be in my crashed plane on my bed, staring at the metal hull of the aircraft. Instead, I found myself staring at a very tall arching stone ceiling. I saw banners hanging down the walls as long as the walls themselves. I looked to my right and saw an open glass double door that led out to a small balcony. A small breeze flowed in along with rays of sunlight. I looked down and found myself in a hospital bed. And a fancy one at that, with a crimson red blanket. I looked to find most of my left arm covered in a cast. I could feel the same bandaging along my right calf. I threw off the blanket to find that all of my armor had been stripped off, leaving me in my underwear and several bloody bandages along my chest. I was very uncomfortable with that thought. Did they see my... you know what. Im just not gonna think about it.

The steady beeping was getting on my nerves. I followed a tube and wire connected to an IV drip and heart rate monitor. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and sat up slowly. Groaning as I did so as the aching soreness of my injuries welcomed itself back into my body. I took the tube out first and then the wire, causing the monitor to flatline. Within seconds the door opposite the glass one slammed open as two horses came in dressed in doctors' gowns. One a unicorn and the other a regular horse. One fur was light brown with a dark brown mane and glasses. The other is a light pinkish purple. They looked concerned when they saw me sitting upright and trying to turn off the stupid heart rate monitor that wouldn't shut up.

"Do either of you know how to turn this stupid thing off?" I asked, looking over the device for a big red button or switch to turn it off.

One of the doctors sighed either out of relief or annoyance. I couldn't tell as he walked over and pressed a button on the side of the machine facing away from me that I couldn't see. The machine went silent. The other doctor, or rather a nurse, was packing up some leftover medical equipment on a table nearby.

"Good, you're awake. Do you feel anything out of the ordinary? Something out of place or a weird feeling?" The doctor asked, grabbing a clipboard that hung off the front of the bed with his horn.

"I feel naked," I responded, grabbing the blanket and covering my lower self.

"Interesting. Anything else?" He asked, scribbling down something on the clipboard.

"Um, somewhat violated. I mean, you guys did just strip off almost all my clothing. Other than that, im just really fucking sore." I responded, Rotating my left arm's shoulder a few times.

The doctor wrote down more on the clipboard before turning to the nurse. "Nurse, can you go notify the Princesses that the patient is awake?"

The nurse turned, carrying a bag with a red plus on it. "Of course, Doctor Horse." She said, walking out the door.

"Princesses? Shit, I didn't think I'd be meeting royalty so quickly. Im not even dressed for the occasion!"

"Don't worry. You most likely won't be meeting them for a while. Not until you can walk again, at least.

I shook my head and brushed it off. "How'd you know how to patch me up? My kind has never met a species of sentient horses." I asked slight suspicion in my voice.

"Were a species of ponies, not horses." The doctor corrected me, sheesh my bad. "Second, we didn't. You needed surgery, but we didn't know what we could operate on without doing more damage. So we had to rely on mending magic to have your body heal on its own. We hoped when you awoke. You could shed some light on your anatomy to allow us to provide better care."

I shook my head, "Sorry, doc. I don't know anything about biology other than the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. It was never my specialty in school." I looked back at the heart rate monitor. "I could take that apart and put it back together in ten minutes, though."

The doctor sighed, "That's what I was afraid of. I suppose we'll just have to wait and hope your body can heal on its own. We've done all we could."

"Eh, I've lived through worse." And stood up slowly. I put pressure under my right leg and, surprisingly, didn't feel a lot of pain. The doctor really didn't like this.

"No! You need to rest and not exert yourself," he exclaimed. Trying to sit me back down.

"Hey, im not a biologist, but I know when my body is good to go," I said. Pushing him out of the way. I took a few steps forward and developed a limp after the third one. "See? All I need is a crutch and im good."

"That's not a good thing! You need to rest!" He continued.

"Look," I turned to the doctor, sounding stern. "Im not the kinda guy to sit in a bed and wait. If I can get my hands on my stuff, I have a book I can use to cast a spell to heal myself. I used it a lot out in that god-forsaken forest."

The doctor sighed in defeat. I could tell he's dealt with a patient like me before. Too stubborn to sit in a bed and heal. "Give me a moment to fetch you a crutch," he said reluctantly as he walked out the door. A few minutes later, he returned with a singular crutch and a set of familiar folded-up clothes.

"The washmare just finished cleaning and stitching up your clothes. When you are changed and ready, there will be a guard outside to take you to meet the princesses," he said, leaning the crutch against a table and setting the clothes atop it. "I have other patients I must attend to, do try to take better care of yourself from here on out." He added, walking back out the door.

I limped over to the stack of clothes and pulled the shirt off the top. Letting it unfold in my hands. They were the same clothes I wore underneath my armor. Similar to sweatshirts and sweatpants. But more comfortable, along with extra padding to withstand blunt force. Of course, however, the ponies didn't have the same material on hand to stitch the torn fabric. So there were splotches of miscolored fabric along my shirt and pants. I didn't care much as I put them on. I was more of a functionality over design guy regarding clothing anyway. After putting everything on, I felt like something was missing.

"Shirt, pants, underwear, socks... Where are my shoes?" I asked. Then a dumbfounded realization hit me. "Right, my armored boots were my shoes. And they went with the armor." I shrugged and grabbed the crutch, placing it under my right arm and hobbling over to the door. Stepped out into the hallway and was greeted by a familiar white unicorn standing just outside the door with his chest plate still on.

"Hey, you're awake!" He said, trotting over with a smile. "And your walking? You really take the phrase 'walk it off' seriously, huh?" he chuckled.

"I live and breath it!" I responded. "So Im supposed to be meeting some princesses?

"Yeah, they wanted to check in on you personally and ask a few questions. Follow me, and I'll introduce you." he asked, gesturing a hoof to follow. To which I complied.

We made very slow progress, walking slowly through the massive hallways. Considering my state, I should be thankful I was able to stand. But I wasn't for some reason. The walls were dotted with large stained glass windows picturing what seemed to be events in history. I didn't pay much attention to them. Not because I didn't care, But because I was trying to trip and fall.

"What's your name, by the way?" The pony asked, catching me off guard.

"Huh?" I asked, not clearly hearing the question.

"What's your name? We can go around calling each other 'it' or 'he' now, can we?" He stopped reaching out a hoof. "I'm Shining Armor," he added.

I stopped and grabbed his hoof awkwardly with my hand. "Rileus Aromas Maximus, call me Riley for short," I said, shaking his hoof.

"Glad to meet you, Riley. Welcome to Canterlot," he said, and we continued walking.

"You know, I have to ask. How are you so calm right now?" Shining asked nervously.

"Excuse me?" I asked, wishing for clarification.

"I don't mean to be rude, but the doctor told me you had never met a race of sentient ponies before. I just thought you be a little more startled about the sudden discovery." He explained, rubbing the back of his head as a few droplets of sweat arose on his forehead.

"Oh, I gotcha, I gotcha. Back home, the king and the top scientist came to a conclusion alongside the elementals that we are not alone in the universe. There was just no way we could have been. So it was incorporated into teachings in schools that weird and different isn't bad. Just new. Plus, we had a lot of weirder things back home than just talking horses- em, Ponies. Sorry. So I've had time to prepare for a meeting like this." I explained.

"You're alright. It's fine that you are still getting used to the whole pony culture thing. But you said elementals? What are those?" he asked, clearly interested.

I brightened up, and discussing the elements and elementals was one of my favorite things to do. "The elementals are, simply put, the element's physical form in our world."

"The elements have physical forms?" Shining asked.

"Indeed," I responded, "My favorite example to use is the wind. Let's say you're outside, and you feel a gust of wind blow through your hair. That gust of wind has an elemental behind it. The elements influence the world around us with natural events, such as wind, to cause what we all call the flow of nature. They do this from the primordial realm, which rests over all reality like a sheet." I finished.

Shining smiled and laughed, "You've gotta be joking! There's no way that's possible. Nature is something we ponies have to push along to make it work properly. If that were true, then there wouldn't be any reason for something like a winter wrap-up to help change the season or pegasi to control the weather!"

I felt anger ignite within me. Then I quickly suppressed it with a deep breath. The fact someone would willingly laugh in the face of what was my people's culture was pretty insulting. I will admit humanity was exactly the same when Merlin first discovered the elementals. Learning that nature has a will is not something everyone is willing to grasp.

"It's true! I will admit my people were just like you, laughing in the face of truth too impossible to be true. But with the right turn of events, everyone saw the truth. The arch-elementals founded all of reality and creation. Do you think all of this," I gestured to pretty much everything around us. "Just poofed into existence randomly? The ability to process metal into iron and steel or the ability to cook wheat into bread just came became a reality at random? No, good sir. Someone or something had to have willed it. And that someone was the elementals." I explained further.

"Okay, okay." Shining started. "I can agree that all of this couldn't have just popped in randomly. But this elemental nonsense, The founding of creation? It all sounds like a bunch of hoo-ha."

"Well, I believe it because it's true. Plus, I've met elementals before, and they proved it. And as much as I respect your opinion. I would appreciate it if you wouldn't laugh at my people's culture that we've followed for the last Five thousand years." I said sternly. The white unicorn's eyes went wide as the realization set in.

"Oh, shoot, im sorry I.." I raised a hand.

"Don't be. I'll repeat it my people were the same way in the beginning. So you're fine. Once you meet an elemental, you'll understand, but im in no state to conjure a ritual that would allow anyone to gaze into the primordial realm. So you'll have to wait and see." I finished.

We walked in silence for a few moments. Passing through a large open chamber with two thrones at the end of it, one with a picture of the moon above it, the other with one of the sun above it.

"Interesting, so do your king and queen have some symbolic link with the sun and moon?" I asked as we passed through another large set of double doors opened by a pair of guards.

"Haha, not a king and queen exactly, but rather the princesses of the sun and moon. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. And their ties to the sun and moon run much deeper than just symbolic." Shining responded, seeming amused by my lack of understanding.

"So you don't have a King or Queen, but princesses run your kingdom? Interesting. What do you mean by 'more than symbolic'?" I asked, confused.

"Well, considering your earlier explanation of your culture, this might be a little surprising. But the sisters of the sun and moon raise the sun and moon when the night and day end." Shining explained, smiling at my look of absolute bewilderment.

If I were drinking anything, I would have spit it out when he said that out of pure surprise. "Excuse me? Now, who's chatting a bunch of bullcrap?" I saw the look on shinings face shift at my response. Quickly realizing I had just asked him not to make fun of my culture. And then insulted him right after.

Clearing my throat, I started again, more politely. "My apologies, It's just. Back home, we did not have anyone to do that. Our planet orbited the sun using gravitational waves while the moon orbited the planted. It was all just passively happening. Not to mention the sun and moon are both so astronomically large, that moving them with magic was impossible! Not that we would break one of the few elemental laws in the first place. It was just basic science. It's just a little hard to hear that such large celestial bodies could be moved so easily, not to mention on a regular to form a day and night cycle."

"Well, I don't know what was happening back where you are from. But that's just how it's always been. Your scientists may have been a little wrong." Shining said, turning a corner down another long hallway.

I stopped as a sudden realization popped into my head. "Wait, do you think I came from a land somewhere near this one?" I asked.

Shining armor turned, eyeing me suspiciously. "Yeah? Why do you ask?"

I looked down at the ground slightly, running a hand through my hair as I let out a heavy breath. "OH BOY, if you thought I was chatting some shat earlier, you may wanna sit down for this one." For the next few minutes of our walk, I explained how I was from another realm, along with the evidence that brought me to such a conclusion. My main telling points were geological features. And the day/night cycle was longer than that of my homeland, Not to mention that there were no talking ponies back home.

"That's... a lot to think about. It makes sense, but I still don't quite believe it." Shining said in awe. "Like, we're talking about a whole other dimension here. And YOU came from it?! That's nuts!"

"That's what Im saying! I didn't believe it at first either, until I looked at the facts. But I believe without a shadow of a doubt that I somehow managed to cross the realms! It was very..." I stopped, Thinking back to my home and the bomb... Sadness swelled within, and my chest felt heavy. "Lucky of me."

Shining stopped and turned to face me, noticing that I stopped in the middle of the hallway. "Hey, You alright?" he asked, concerned.

I shook my head, shaking away the thoughts and rubbing my eyes. "Yeah, just gimme a sec. Just still sore, is all. Needed a sec to catch my breath." I caught back up with Shining as we continued through the hallway in silence.

"Thanks, by the way. For protecting my little sister." Shining said, seemingly out of nowhere. I looked at him with confusion. He saw this and explained it further. "Back in the everfree forest, you saved her from the timberwolf, remember?"

I thought for a moment before remembering the events. "The purple one, right? That's your little sister?"

Shining nodded. "Yup. Her name is Twilight. Biggest bookworm slash nerd you'll ever meet." He looked at me with sincerity. "and you didn't hesitate to save her back there in the forest. Im glad you were there to save her when I couldn't. Even if it meant risking your own health and well-being.

Element of magic? Shit, now I have more questions. But I was gonna be meeting the Princesses here shortly. I saved my questions for them rather than bombarding the poor lad next to me. "Hey, It's not a big deal. As a younger brother myself, I know what siblings do for each other. I may have a lot of injuries from it, yeah, sure. But siblings have a duty coded into us at birth to protect those closest to us. My older sister was no exception, and neither am I. Im sure you did all you could at that moment." I ended. I wish I could say the same for myself when I let my sister... Nope, push it down. Not the time.

Shining smiled, seeming glad that I could empathize with him. "Thanks, Riley."

"BUT, it doesn't mean we can't make it a pain in the ass for our siblings, though. Just because we love ya doesn't mean we can't mess with ya, right?!" I stated with a chuckle.

Shining gave one as well in response. "You got that right."

I suddenly recognized one of the things Shining said earlier. "Wait, Did you call those things timberwolves?"

"Yeah? Why do you ask?" he responded cocking his head.

"FUCK! That's a way better name than what I thought of!"

After a few more minutes of walking and talking with Shining, he stopped in front of a large double door. I could hear the muffled voices of several others behind it. "Alright, this is it. Are you ready to meet the princesses?" He asked, his horn illuminating a light pink with the same glow enveloping the two door handles.

"As ready as one can be when meeting royalty," I responded with a sigh. "Anything I should know beforehand?"

Shining thought for a moment before responding. "Celestia is generally very curious about 'new' things such as this. She loves talking and discussing things, at least with Twilight. She is very positive and bright. She leads through morals and inspiration. Being a symbol of hope to all of Equestria. She's also very reasonable and tries to relate whenever she can."

"Like the sun, very ironic." I jutted in.

Shining tilted his head to the side. "On the other hoof, you have luna. Who is kinda the opposite of her sister. Very quiet and collected, most of the time only interacts with anypony during night court. She can be very, what's a good way to put it, Tempermental. But she's very focused and determined. If she wants something done, she gets it done. Sometimes I say more so than Celestia."

"I think I know the type," I said, thinking of a certain mountain king from back home. "I think I can manage."

Shining turned his head and waved his horn as if the motion allowed him to open the door more effectively. Inside was a large circular table capable of sitting several ponies around it. On the table was most of my stuff that had been removed from my person. Laid out in an investigative manner. Along the walls were a few bookshelves and drapes of the similar decor I'd seen throughout the castle. As Shining had informed me on our walk that we were in canterlot castle. At the far end of the room was a similar glass door leading out to a balcony as the room I awoke in. This time closed but still let in rays of sunlight. The ceiling was lower than I had seen before, but a few decently sized windows still dotted the upper walls, letting in more light along with a large chandelier that hung from the ceiling.

Around the table sat a lot more than just the two princesses of the sun and moon. There were another six ponies beside them at the table, one of which I recognized as the purple unicorn from the everfree forest. Who I now knew whose name was Twilight Sparkle, thanks to Shining armor. But the other five ponies were completely unknown to me. One was a pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail, along with a blue coat. Who was flying in the air. One regular pony had an orange coat and yellow hair with a cowboy hat. Another pegasus with a pink mane and tail with a bright yellow coat, who seemed more hidden than the rest. Another regular pony was way too fuckin happy for her own good, with her bright pink coat and reddish pink mane bouncing up and down where she stood. And the last one, another Unicorn with a gorgeously groomed purple mane and white coat who just stuck out amongst the rest, seeming to want to stand out vs. the yellow one who wanted to stay hidden.

Of course, they didn't distract me long as my gaze shifted to the noticeably larger two winged unicorns who also stood at the table next to each other. Both mimicked atire related to the sun and moon. Both wore crowns and stood with much more authority than the rest. All eyes were upon me now that I had entered the room. Of course, the Dark blue coated one was all too familiar to me, As I had previously removed her from my mind while dreaming several times. Fuck, this may not go well. I could see it in her eyes too, that she recognized me as well. But didn't say anything. The other of the two was taller than her sister by a noticeable margin. Her face held a gentle smile that carried a soft warmth with it. She seemed the most interested in me as I walked with Shining up to the table.

"Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Rileus Aromas Maximus." Shining said, introducing me to the two sisters.

"Greetings! It's a pleasure to meet you!" Celestia responded first, her voice carrying a mother's grace that was both calming and soothing. Followed by her sister, whos was not that.

"Truly," Luna added.

I dropped onto my good knee and bowed my head as I curled my fist into a ball and rested it on the front of my shoulder. My good arm crossed my chest diagonally as I spoke. "Seid gegrüßt, Majestät, Elemente erblicken uns."

"Excuse me?" They both said, confused.

The realization that they didn't speak elemental was sudden. I quickly went to clarify. "Apologies, a force of habit when meeting royalty," I said, standing up. "That was my people's royal greeting in elementael, an old and powerful language that carries deep respect. It's a way of showing humility in the presence of another royal while also showing great respect. My father taught me to do it when meeting any royalty, no matter the situation. I knew you two would be no different. It's an honor."

Both of the sisters understood now and looked pleased by it. Celestia was the first to speak. "Oh, how Polite! It's a pleasure to meet you as well! My, such mannerism is a rare find these days outside of Equestria. Your father must be a wise, eh , fellow!" She complimented.

"Indeed." Luna started, "Such a trait is most admirable. Your father must have been quite the fellow."

I looked down at the floor, trying to keep sorrow from slipping into my expression. "Yes, one of the best men I knew and my hero."

"Well, I must say you started quite the stir here in canterlot. Shining armors report was quite interesting. To say the least." Celestia said, raising a hoof. " Considering the circumstances of your discovery, and With as injured as you were and being able to bounce back so well in only three days' time. Ponies around here have been a buzz about you."

"I've been passed out for three days?" I asked, surprised.

"More like three and three-quarters, to be more precise." Luna corrected.

"Details aside, your heroic efforts to save Shining armors detachment and my faithful student deserve commendation. I'd say our best medical care, and some rest is well earned." Celestia added.

"Oh, speaking of healing..." I added, being reminded by her word. I turned and hobbled to the table. Looking among my belongings for the Unbound arcanum I had on my person before arriving here. "If I may ask, Why were you all going through my stuff?" I asked, picking up my large backpack and sifting through it.

"Mere curiosity, darling." The unicorn with the purple mane stated, with a voice smooth as silk.

"Excuse my rudeness, but who are you all? I was only informed I'd be meeting with the princesses. I was not told of another six joining us." I asked, gesturing to the other six ponies at the table.

"Oh, my apologies. How rude of me not to introduce the six Heroines of Equestria!" Celestia went through and introduced the ponies one at a time so as not to mix up names.

"Well, I'm more than willing to show and or tell you what anything of mine you were concerned or curious about. But I must say I feel rather uncomfortable that you violated my privacy and went through my belongings before asking. Let alone without my supervision, as some of these items defended me from the creatures of what you called the Everfree forest and are quite dangerous." I said as I shifted around the belongings in my bag for the third time now, trying to find the book.

"Our sincerest apologies, Mr.Riley-" Celestia started.

"Please, just Riley." I jutted in.

She nodded and continued, "We simply wished to investigate the strange magical auras among some of your items. Although strong, they were unfamiliar to us."

The Pink pony, known as Pinkie Pie, bounced around the table, "And the neat little thing!" She said excitedly, rearing onto the hind legs. Holding my hand cannon. "It's like a mini party cannon! I wonder what kind of confetti it shoots?" She added, closing one eye and looking down the barrel. Her Hooves dangerously close to the trigger.

"DON'T LOOK DOWN THE FUCKIN-" I yelled. My heart dropped. Military instinct kicked in as I leaped across the table, knocking over several items as. I grabbed hold of the gun and pointed away from her face as quickly as I could. I was staring a few inches from her shocked expression. My head slowly turned to see the other shocked expressions from the others at the table. I cleared my throat and took the gun from her hooves as I rolled off the table and back to my feet.

"My dearest apologies for that outburst. You see, I used to be in the Military. And this was one of the firearms I was issued. Well, more like I made alongside my father. A complement to a weapon, such as a blade. These weapons can fire metal rounds called bullets with mini explosions within the gun, to propel the bullets at lethal speed. And the number one rule was to never look down the barrel of one of these weapons, EVER. Even if it's unloaded. It was merely a reaction to her safety, As she was close to pulling the trigger, which would have fired the weapon. And I did not know if it had any rounds in it or not." I explained, trying to leave out what would have happened to her if she had pulled the trigger. I opened the gun's cylinder and unloaded the cartridge to check if any bullets were left. My sudden outburst seemed justified as I gazed upon the two lives rounds within.

"I see," Luna said, eyeing the gun in my hand. "So what would have happened if she had pulled this trigger?" The whole room listened quietly.

"Well," I started hesitantly. "To be as honest but as least descriptive as possible. This part of her head..." I used a finger to outline the top right part of Pinkies head, including her ear and eye. "Would be all over that wall." I finished, pointing to the wall behind her. Several gasps of horror and shock wrung out around the table. Pinkie proceeded to quickly bounce away from the weapon in my hand.

"How could something so small be so deadly!?" Celestia questioned, a look of fear on her face.

"And why would such a weapon be issued commonly in your people's military?!" Luna demanded.

"Everybody listen, please! These were never used on any of my people or anyone of that sort." At least not until the war started. "Ocassionly, the outlying towns of the kingdom would be attacked by creatures much BIGGER and STRONGER than a simple sword or axe could handle. That's when we would be dispatched to deal with the said threat with weapons like this. As they could punch through the natural armor, some of these beasts possessed." I looked down at the firearm in my hand. Memories of the war filled my mind, the people I killed with this weapon... The guilt.

"I pray for the day I can put down this weapon for good," I said softly.

The two sisters looked at each other, seeming to have a conversation that I could not hear. I noticed the holster for the weapon on the floor, amongst a few other items and food provisions. I quickly bent over and picked up the belt, and put it on. Storing the cartridge on the belt and returning the weapon to its holster.

"Im not sure we feel comfortable with such a weapon inside the castle. Could we dispose of it?" Celestia asked, eyes the gun in its holster.

"I understand your concern, your majesty. But Without the proper equipment from my homeland, I cannot even begin dismantling the weapon. Let alone destroy it, as it is enchanted to resist heat and concussive damage. And with all due respect, I do not feel comfortable entrusting it to your care as such a weapon is very sensitive without proper training. And as im the only one present with such training. I would argue that it's much safer to keep it with me than anyone else. I do promise, however, that the weapon will stay unloaded and within its holster at all times." I argued my points to the Princesses in the hope they would understand.

The two sisters looked at each other again. Before Celestia started, "Very well, but after today, I would request that it does not come onto the premises of Canterlot castle again. And is stored in the correct conditions."

"As you wish, your majesty. Thank you for understanding." I responded, nodding my head.

"Now then, with all the excitement out of the way, I also wished to bring up your sword. As I said before, the magics that are on some of these items are unknown to us, but we can feel their strength none the less."

Crap, I didn't know they could sense the magical properties of my father's blade. Most of them are for ensuring it survives the effect of time and degradation. But it was also made by the first king Merlin himself, and passed from generation to generation. Its other magical properties made it a relic crucial in the festival of the lost. But now, I don't know what will happen without the festival to vent that magical power.

"Um, it's enchanted to allow the blade to survive through the effects of time and degradation. Rusting, corrosion, wear and tear. All of those kinda things." I started, hiding some of the truth for the time being. Picking up the blade. Gliding my hand down its scabbard. "You see, this blade was passed down through the generations from its creation by the First king of Romulios, Merlin. Through the ages of kings and queens alike, Members of the royal family had added their own magic to the blade throughout the last five thousand years." I paused, unsheathing the blade only halfway. "If you look closely at the flat part of the blade, you can see the etchings of previous royals along the blade, each imbued with its own magic. It's not so much as your sensing one massively large enchantment. It's more so over a dozen smaller ones carved into the same item. And each enchantment only grows stronger as time goes on, reinforcing the metal with each passing day. It's my people's most sacred relic. Not so much for its power as much so for the history of this blade. I could go through each engraving and tell you the story of the ruler that it corresponds to. This blade is more than a weapon. It's a retelling of my people's history since the founding of our kingdom."

"My word, what craftsmanship."

"Astonishing"

"SO COOL!"

"I've never seen such a relic before in all my days of the ruling. It's truly remarkable. How did you come into possession of it?"

I heard similar responses from the others as I fully removed the blade from its scabbard and rested it on the table. Tapping the newest engraving newest. "This one belonged to my father, King Tyrus. He entrusted the blade to me for safekeeping before his passing." I realized quickly, after seeing the expressions of the others change to surprise at my words, that I had spilled the beans on my royal bloodline.

"you are royalty?!" Was the general question that followed.

"Yes, I am a direct descendent of King Merlin and the son of King Tyrus of Romulios. My home kingdom. I wished to keep such a truth to myself, as im not in my home kingdom, so my royalty doesn't give me much power here." I sighed, returning the blade to its scabbard.

"NONSENSE, DARLING!" Rarity said, trotting over to me. "All royalty is to be respected no matter where you are! And such things are noticed and must simply be recognized!"

"I must agree with Rarity. You are a royal, even if not in your own kingdom. And as such, should be treated with as much respect as any other royal guest within ours." Celestia said, agreeing with Rarity and others as well. "I must ask where your kingdom is. So when you depart from our home, we can properly escort you back safely."

I chuckled at her question, which slowly turned into a laugh.

"May I ask what you find so funny?" Celestia asked, giving me an odd look.

"Im sorry," I said, wiping my eyes. "It's just funny that you think you could take me across dimensions when I don't even know how the fuck I crossed over to this one."

Total silence.

"All right, here we go again," I explained again how I concluded that I had crossed dimensions and landed in this one. I explained furthermore that I didn't know what elements were in place to cause such an event, nor the slightest idea of how to get back home. It was long, and there were many questions.

"So, you're stuck here?" Twilight said with a hint of sorrow.

"Until I can figure out how to replicate the event that brought me here. Im afraid so." I responded.

"Ahm sorry sugarcube. Your family must miss you dearly, I guarantee it." Applejack said, resting a hoof on my shoulder.

I thought about my family, my long-gone family. "Yeah, I bet they do."

"Was there anyone else that came with you? You couldn't have been the only one?" Fluttershy whispered.

Romulus instantly came to mind. "ROMULUS! By the elements, I left him in the forest! Oh, how could I forget someone so fucking important!"

"Who?" Luna asked.

"Romulus was the royal advisor to my father and myself. He served the royal family for generations. He is one of the reasons im here today! And I left him in the Everfree forest!" I expressed concern in my voice.

"Don't worry. Do you remember where he is?" Celestia asked.

"No..." I moaned as my eyes fell upon my wristpad. "But that does!" I stated as I picked up the device and strapped it to my left wrist where there wasn't a cast.

"This device tracked the plane I crash landed in, And I never took Romulus out of said plane. So by logic, he should be there. I just don't have a map to cross reference, too, as I don't know this land at all." I explained.

"I know of several maps in the royal library!" Twilight stated. "I'll go get them right now!" She added dashing out the door.

"we're coming too, Twilight!" Applejack declared, with the rest of the other five following her.

"In the meantime, I'll send word to the pegasi to see if that can help extract your friend from the air once you find him in the Everfree." Celestia Assured, resting her hoof on my shoulder.

"Thank you, your majesty," I responded.

"Please, call me Celestia. Until everything is ready, I ask that you join my sister and me tonight for dinner. You must be famished after all that time in the Everfree."

"Oh no, I couldn't," I said, Only for my stomach to growl in severe disagreement. Causing a giggle from both the princesses.

"Okay, I suppose I could have something to eat," I responded. "But first, wasn't there a book in this bag? I kinda need it."

"Oh, That was the last item I wish to ask you about," Celestia said as her horn glowed a bright yell as the unbound arcanum floated into view. I took hold of the book as the magical glow faded.

"I had to hide it from Twilight. She couldn't keep her hooves off of it, trying to figure out why the pages were blank from cover to cover." Celestia giggled. "She's such a little bookworm."

"So I heard," I said, looking at Shining Armor, who had to depart due to other duties that required his attention. "The reason she couldn't see any words was that you have to be 'unbound' to be able to see them," I said, opening the book and flipping through the pages.

"What's that?" Luna and Celestia asked in sync.

"It's a special ritual that frees the mind and fully unlocks one's mental abilities. Giving their imagination the power to tap into elemental magic and giving them a natural talent or ability, sometimes multiple if you are gifted enough." I explained.

"Interesting, Indeed!" Celestia stated. "May I ask what kind of book is that?"

"This is an unbound arcanum. The greatest source of literature my people have to offer. Only A hundred and twenty were ever made and evenly divided among the twelve kingdoms of my homeland." I proceeded to explain the vast amount of knowledge contained within this book. How it catalogs and copies every piece of known or unknown written literature ever made back home. A library of twelve combined kingdoms in one book. Such a relic immediately had both of the Princess' attention.

"As I said, however, you must be 'unbound' to read this book. And although I am, I do not know how to grant to gift myself unless I can find the ingredients to do it the old-fashioned way. But that would take a lot of research I don't have at the moment." I finished,

"Well, Canterlots library is open to you, and Im sure Twilight and her friends would be more than willing to help you find whatever you need," Celestia stated.

"I don't doubt it." I stopped flipping pages as I found the one I needed. "Okay, This is gonna hurt," I said, putting the book down as a spell of self-healing rested on the pages. I focused a small rune on my finger and dragged it across the cast on my left. Cutting through it with ease. I let the cast fall away as the wound in my arm re-opened, and blood streaked down my arm. Pain swelled in my upper arm. The princesses cried in distress as to what I was doing.

"Calm yourselves and watch," I said, focusing on the bright yellow rune in the book as it formed around my arm and casting the spell as it slowly moved up my arm. As it began crossing over the wound, it began to shine brighter as small beams of yellow light zapped at the wound. Rapidly healing it along with numbing the pain. The princesses were in awe as, within less than a minute, the wound was healed.

"I didn't have it memorized as it is a heavily complex spell. And I can only use it on myself at the moment. But as you can see, it is very effective. But also very exhausting on the mind." I said and did the same spell to my leg. Allowing me to ditch my crutch.

"Well," Celestia started. "I'll have Twilight take whatever maps she finds to the room you awoke in. You have some time still before tonight. I assume you'd want to get to work right away on the maps, correct?"

"Indeed," I answered.

"Well, I'll let you get to it. I have some matters that myself and Luna need to attend to. Come, luna." She said as she and her sister walked out the door.

I sat in the room for a few minutes by myself. Thinking about the situation I found myself in for the first time today.

"Ponies huh, whoda thunk."

Insomnia

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After Meeting the Princesses, I made my way back to what I assumed would be my room for the time being. They had removed all of the medical stuff, the heart rate monitor, and such. They put new sheets on the bed, which, come to find out, wasn't a hospital bed like I first thought. Or they swapped the bed out while I talked to the princesses. Either way, That thing was comfy. Fresh blankets and pillows, a cool breeze from the open balcony door, and a fruit bowl. It felt, weird. I still felt like any second. I would hear the distant roars of missiles and artillery. Or an eruption of gunfire around me that would force me to my feet and take arms against the armies of Farogon. But it never came, just peace. I felt a wave of sadness hit me out of nowhere. I reached into my shirt and pulled out a necklace I had enchanted a long time ago. It could never to be taken off and only able to be seen by me. It held three dog tags and my family's royal zeal. I stared at them for a while as I sat on the bed.

"You all deserved this peace way more than I do," I whispered. Rubbing my thumb across the names carved into the metal.

I heard the rapid clopping of hooves on stone growing louder and louder. Something inside me sensed that it was someone coming to see me. I quickly shoved my necklace back into my shirt as the door to my room swung open. And Twilight Sparkle ran in, breathing heavily with a set of rolled-up papers enveloped in her magic floated in behind her.

"I... I got... I got the maps... ah... I forgot how many stairs there were... between here... and the library... ah." She was taking gulps of air between breaths. I was surprised she was so winded. Horses back home could run whole marathons before being anywhere close to this winded, Even without proper training. Then again, I was in a different dimension, and these weren't horses, they were ponies.

"Whoa, take it easy! One breath at a time, here sit down." I urged her to sit on the small stool at the desk. Which she did with a loud thump, the papers she was floating with her magic setting themselves down on the table.

"You didn't need to run back. I can wait, ya know. I'm not a top priority." I added. Handing her a bottle of water that was next to the food bowl. Which she took hold of her magic and gulped down thirstily.

"But... Princess Celestia said... you wanted to get started right away?" She questioned in between gulps. "She said... to bring the maps... up to your room... as soon as possible."

"Yeah, But I figured you would take your time, and I'd have a little bit of time on my hands," I responded. Looking over at the five rolled-up parchments. "Still, I guess now that they're here. I may as well get some work done."

I reached over, picked up a random map from the pile, and unrolled it. The map was very clearly a general reference map. I saw several major cities along major travel routes throughout a massive singular continent. Every major landmark, city, or road. Along with a highly expansive rail system that spread throughout the continent. All major landmarks and railways were labeled exceptionally well. I searched the edges of the map to find something that could help me distance the distance between all of these locations, such as a key or edge marking grid. But with no luck. I could gauge this map with the same klick system we used in the war for precise mapping. But these maps weren't made for that use, not to mention pony measurements of distance and mapping. If I was going to get this done, I needed some help.

"Twilight, I may require your assistance," I said, lowering the map and looking back at the young unicorn, who had finally caught her breath.

"Oh. Yes, of course! Celestia asked me to help you in any way I could!" She said, jumping to her hooves. Enthusiastic, hm, just like me before the war. I couldn't help but smirk.

"So, what did you need help with exactly?" She asked, hopping onto her hind legs and resting the front ones on the table.

"Im unsure about how to gauge the distance on these locations, along with the size of the continent Equestria resides on. Back home, we had our own ways of calculating these things, along with an abundance of machines to track and calculate them. Now without all that fancy gear. I have to rely on old-school methods, but I don't know if they could be accurately applied here. In short, I need clarification on how the ponies of equestria calculate the longitude and latitude on their maps."

"Oh, that's easy! Here, let me show you." She responded, levitating a quill out of its ink container on the desk.

Twilight's knowledge was invaluable. It only took a rough hour for me to understand the basics of Equestrian mapping. After that came the hard part, which I was still looking forward to. I wanted to combine all the different types of maps into one and then upload it into my wristpad. This sounds impossible initially, considering a topography map interferes with almost all other map types. But with how a 3D model map looks on the wristpad. It's incredibly helpful. That's why I knew I had to do topography last.

Twilight thought I was crazy at first, Until I showed her one of the 3D maps from my wristpad. I used its holoprojector to project it onto the table and explained the ins and outs of what I wanted exactly. She was absolutely fascinated by how all map types could converge together in a 3D space. Afterward, she was a hundred percent on board. Of course, she did the majority of the calculations, which cut the time in half. Her grasp of math was supernatural and greatly surpassed my own. She was spitting out numbers faster than I could think of the equations. The only person I knew that could do math that fast was the very same person I was trying to get out of Everfree. After some time, the table became too small for our work, and we started pinning the maps to the wall, which helped, when we put them in order after an hour of confusion.

"Okay, just so im sure before I start uploading. The base is going to be the general reference map." I asked, double-checking our work.

"Correct," Twilight responded, checking down a mark on her clipboard.

"Then we add the extra detail map, which adds pretty much all the small stuff, not on the General map. Small towns, less traveled roads, etc."

"Right,"

"Then comes the nature map, doing the hyper details of natural landmarks in the wild, exact ranges of forests and mountain ranges and such."

"Yup."

"and finally comes the topography. This should be the cherry on top that gives us a correctly 3D-modeled map, with most likely some fine-tuning and tinkering."

"Yup, all set!" Twilight stated, setting her clipboard down on the table with her magic.

"Alrighty then, Let's try this..." I said, bringing my wrist around and opening my wristpad. I aimed it at the first map and after pressing a few buttons. A light blue wave shot outward, starting at the top of the map and swiping left to right as it slowly worked its way downward. The top screen projected the scanner while the bottom screen closest to my wrist recorded it. I kept track of the progress on the bottom screen to make sure no errors or glitches occurred. I could see Twilight in awe out of the corner of my eye. I never thought something I used to use regularly could be so astonishing.

The scan finished with an audible beep. I quickly swiped around the bottom screen to double-check that everything scanned correctly. "Okay, looks good. Now let's do the rest." I repeated the process on the following maps and compiled them all using Twilight's math.

"So, to check if it all went together smoothly. I need to project it and make sure it loads correctly. The only issue is that the room has too much light to see it properly. Could you float some sheets in front of the balcony door and windows?" I asked, gesturing to the glass door and windows pouring in light.

She nodded, and her horn began to glow. The sheets and blankets lifted off the bed and into the air, surrounded by a light pink glow. Blocking the door and windows as I requested. The room dimmed heavily. Now it was time to see if the last few hours were worth the trouble. I turned and faced the most open part of the room, pressed a button on the side of the upper screen of the wrist pad, and swiped the small file of the map upward. The same light that once projected the scanner now projected a large image onto the floor. Turning a knob on the side of the upper screen, the crude image focused in and out with more and more details than before until, finally, It rendered a full 3D map that took up most of the free space in the room. A small light pinged in Canterlot's position on the side mountain as tall as myself. Words hovered above every major location with a small line connecting them. Every detail was in place. Twilight's jaw was hanging open, unable to speak.

"Now, let's check the Everfree forest and see if that side works," I said, pinching my fingers on the lower screen and zooming in on the Everfree location. There was another small ping deep within the forest, much farther in than a location called 'The Castle of the two sisters.' Close to a small mountain. Even though by my people's standards, it would be considered a large hill if not for its pointed peak.

"There it is," I said, pointing to the small light.

"Weird," Twilight started, moving around the projection. "I never knew there was a mountain there. Are you sure everything worked right on your device?"

"Im looking right now at the data. The topography says there's a mountain there. And I remember seeing a large mound of earth like that when hunting around that area. I would've climbed it if I could, but then there's that organic ceiling that covers the place." I explained. Shutting off the projector. The map disappeared with a sudden flicker, and Twilight returned the blankets and sheets to the bed.

"In any case," I started again. "I should be able to work with this and plan an appropriate path through the Everfree. If anything, I can use my ship's tracker as an anchor and reference when navigating the forest. Like I had been doing for the last eight or so months."

"Wait, you've been living in the Everfree forest for eight months?" Twilight asked, somewhat shocked.

"Well, eight months my time. Considering this world's day/night cycle, it would probably be closer to six months, give or take." I added.

"Gosh, I never thought anyone other than Zecora could survive in the Everfree forest," Twilight stated, catching my attention.

"Ze-who now?" I asked, curious about who this Zecora was.

"Oh, she's a friend of mine and the girls who lives in the Everfree forest's outer edge. She is a Zebra who's really good with Potions and medicine. Always speaks in rhymes weirdly enough." She explained.

"Other than the speaking in Rhymes part, she sounds like a shaman from my homeland. Never ran into her while I was in the Everfree, though." Probably for the best, Most of the people I was fighting in the war were shaman'esk warriors hyped on super drugs that made them superhuman.

"She's not exactly a pony person. Mostly keeps to herself unless someone asks for help." Twilight added.

"Not a bad way to live," I whispered.

There was a sudden knock at the door before it swung open and Shining armor walked in. His eyes see Twilight first, causing them both to exchange a hug. Making me miss my own sister.

"Hey Twily, Princess Celestia told me you'd be up here helping our new friend. I figured I'd check on you for old times' sake." Shining said.

"Im alright. We just finished up, actually. And I can take care of myself, im not a little filly anymore, you know." She responded, ending with a slight smirk.

"I know, I know. We don't really get to talk that often since the Nightmare Moon incident." He laughed, looking a little down.

"Yeah..." Twilight said, mimicking his expression.

I felt bad for them, even though I had no idea what the nightmare moon incident was. But these two had grown quite separate after said incident. That much is obvious.

"Why don't you guys go hang out together? It seems like this doesn't happen often enough from your guy's expressions." I stated.

"Well, I did just finish my shift. And that library in ponyville isn't going anywhere." Shining's blatant suggestiveness was so obvious I swear I could feel it rubbing against my ears.

"Alright, I suppose I could stay in canterlot another day and hang out with my B.B.B.F.F." She said with a smile. Nudging Shining with her elbow. They were about to leave when Shining ran back in.

"I forgot! I came to drop off your armor as well. The guards and I did our best to patch up the dents and holes." Shining said, levitating my armor through the door and onto the table. "It was the least we could do after you saved our flanks from those timberwolves."

I took hold of one of the bracers as he set it down. The metal that they had used to patch the gashes in the armor was of that same golden variety they normally wore. Not only that, it was extremely crude and sloppy.

"I do appreciate the gesture. Really I do, but if you guys had a forge of some sort on hand, I could just mend the pieces together. This metal isn't easy to make, and there isn't anything like it. So it's not easily replaceable." I said, scratching the gold metal with my finger as tiny bits flaked off.

"Yeah, I could tell that metal was different when it resisted my mending spell. And yes, we do have a forge, but it's kinda in a state of disrepair." Shing replied, waving a hoof.

"I guarantee I've worked with worse," I said, packing the armor into my bag and slinging it over my shoulder. "Point me the way, and I'll have at it."

"Oh, I can take you there, no issue," Shining replied.

"No no, you should spend time with your sister, don't let me interfere. Just point me towards it, and I'll manage." I insisted. But Shining was not taking no for an answer.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I was planning to take to Twily to grab lunch over that way anyway. To catch up and such. It's no problem if I stop and show you the forge." He said, waving a hoof for me to follow.

"Alright, if you insist," I said as I followed behind them. They joked and talked with each other the majority of the time. Occasionally asking me a few questions here and there about home and such. It was refreshing. Once we walked out the main doors of Canterlot castle and were in the main city. I could tell the locals weren't exactly used to seeing one such as myself, especially when most of them looked rather high-class. However, I did try to come off as friendly and pleasant as possible. Waving and saying high as we walked past individuals. The first impression is the one that matters the most. That's what my dad always said at least. For some reason, though, I found myself constantly on guard. Checking behind me and constantly looking around. It was like a subconscious thing I just did. If anything, it helped me check out the place. And I will say that this city was rather beautiful compared to the ones back home. More medieval and decorated rather than the usual bustling industrialized society that I was used to.

We turned towards the large mountain. Moving away from the majority of the populace and following a small road of what I guessed was the Upper-high class. Shops and housing for the richest of the rich were built right into the side of the mountain in the royal plaza. The majority of the ponies walking the roads were a part of the guard. Mainly in sets of two several minutes apart from each other. We stopped near one edge of the plaza, where the mountain dipped into itself like a natural forming right angle next to the wall that separated the plaza from the rest of the city. In this nook of the mountain was a decently sized forge, and a large circular chimney rose from the roof of the exterior from a circular room. The service wind that stretched around this circular room was separated into three sets and had wooden shutters closing it off from the elements. This same room protruded from the stone brick house that jutted from the mountain and connected to the main wall, with a few windows looking outwards towards us. It honestly looked fairly cozy.

"Well, here it is. The royal forge, although not in the best state, mind you." Shining presented the building in a rather unceremonious fashion.

"I disagree. The exterior structure looks fairly intact, and the building's shape looks rather inviting." I said, disagreeing with Shining's statement.

"You say that now. Wait until you see the inside." Shining added, walking around to a side door he pushed open with a hoof. Twilight followed close behind him, along with myself.

Once inside, I could barely see a thing. It was so dark. I took a few steps forward and found myself tripping on objects I couldn't see. Shining used his magic to open the shutters, flipping them upwards where they hooked onto little hooks that held them open. Light flooded in from the outside as the utter mess that was tools and ruined materials were just littered all over the floor. You could see heavy amounts of dust in the air through sunlight pouring in. The very same chimney I saw outside was actually the forge, dark coals and ash sitting inside the stone oven-like structure. There were two separate anvils within this room, which was much larger than it looked on the outside as It was carved into the mountain. One sat next to a workbench with a small hammer lying across it. The other anvil sat in the middle with a large two-handed hammer propped up next to it. There was plenty of storage and an entire metal ingot/ore rack that filled an entire wall. Of course, it was near full stockage, but it had enough to get started.

"I have no idea what in the world you were talking about disrepair Shining. This place Literally just needs to be cleaned and organized." I said, already beginning to pick up things off the floor. "Whatever happened to your guy's last blacksmith anyway?" I asked.

"Nothing bad. He got offered a job up in Manehattan with an industrial corporation. He up and quit on us as soon as he got the letter about a month ago. We're still trying to find a replacement smith, but most people with those skills are getting similar job offers." He replied.

"Well, I know im a guest here in canterlot, but Im more than happy to do some smithing for you guys. It was one of my favorite hobbies back home." I added, noticing the leftover slag and metal within a crucible that sat within the main forge. "Oh, by the elements, he left metal in the forge when he left. Ugh, you know how much of a pain the ass it is to work with unfinished slag?"

Shining gave me a look of 'I have no idea what he's talking about' before speaking. "No, I wouldn't. Look, im glad that you are awake and active and all of that. But you came out of the forest pretty banged up, not to mention the things you said in your sleep when I was carrying you back to canterlot. Red lighting and the black cloud? Sounds like you've been through a lot. Even Princess luna said that your dreams were too volatile for her even to enter. Maybe you should relax, take it easy for a while?"

I sighed, seeing his point. "I see your point, but I was never someone to sit back and relax. At least not in the way your thinking of it. My mind has always just been running and running at a hundred miles an hour to the point I had to always be doing something to be able to keep my mind busy. Due to that, I've always been somewhat of a work-a-holic, not intentionally, anyways. I was a heavy scholar in my younger years, reading every book in a library out of boredom. I had a heavy video gaming phase during my late teens for a few years and then took up blacksmithing as a hobby on top of it all. Slowly I got into engineering on top of blacksmithing and eventually the military. I've never liked school, and the school didn't like me. I couldn't sit still in ha my class lectures, and my dad saw that. Pulled me out of school and taught me himself within the castle alongside mom. But eventually, I just started teaching myself whenever I went to the library."

"Sounds like somebody I know," Shining said, looking at Twilight with a smirk. Her face told me he was right.

"And so," I started again. '"Now that I find myself in a new position. I need something to occupy myself, so I can think properly. This is a new world for me and an even newer situation to be in with you ponies. I just want to wrap my head around it all, but it's hard to do when with my head going as fast as it is."

"I can understand that. If that's what you need, don't let us stop you. C'mon, Twilight, let's go grab some lunch." Shining said, turning around to face the door. They both departed, leaving the forge to myself. I went and closed the three sets of windows as I didn't want to be bothered while I worked. I simply used the fire of the forge to light my way.

It still took time to clean everything, even more so to learn where everything was and move things around. I was in another person's forge, so nothing was where I would have preferred it to be. Not to mention the style of the forge itself was alien to me, but nonetheless, I made do. Once I had everything situated in a fashion that I could work with. I lit the forge with a flick of a fire ruin, and I took My bracer out to examine the damage. The gash within the metal resembled that of a dire wolf bite mark back home. The metal was too far damaged to just patch it up. Using a box of sand left over for mold making. I used my opposite arms bracer and made a mold as I melted down the ruined bracer in the forge. Which took hours, considering it was pure element steel and not any raw ore.

Once that was done, I used a pair of smithing tongs to pick up the crucible of element steel and poured it into the mold. I could smell the burning sand and saw the small plume of smoke arise from the hole I poured the liquid metal into. I waited around twenty-five minutes to let the metal take its shape before removing it from the mold. Using the tongs once more, as the metal was still very hot. I placed it back in the forge and heated it up in preparation for a quench. The only oil I could find, though, was a large barrel of vegetable oil.

"It's not the best, but it'll do."

I prepped a small container full of the oil and removed the metal as it turned red hot. I dunked it into the oil and held it there for a few moments before removing it and raising it into the air for inspection. Steam rose from the still-hot metal as I looked it over for flaws.

"Looks good." I nodded, setting the piece down on the table to let it cool down fully. "Once you're all cooled down, I can throw all the leather straps back one. Which reminds me, I need to treat that leather for a bit."

I heard a knock at the entrance door to the forge. I quickly walked over and opened it and was greeted by a guard. The other thing I noticed was that the sun was down, and the moon was out.

"Hello, mister Rileus, I was told to fetch you for dinner with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna." The guard said, reading off a small note on his hoof.

"Oh crap, I forgot about that. Gimme one second to change shirts, and ill be right back." I turned and ran back inside and fumbled through my bag. "Thank the elements, I always pack a spare shirt. This one is filthy." I said quickly, changing shirts. "I wish I had time to shower or something, But I never plan that far ahead, do I?"

"Are you talking to me?" I heard the guard question from the doorway.

"No, im just batshit crazy and talk to myself." I turned and saw a look of genuine concern on the guard's face. "That was a joke, by the way. I just self-dialogue sometimes."

"Okay... Are you ready to go now?" He said, still keeping the same expression.

I felt the embarrassment slowly creep in as I realized that joking about your mental state might not look with strangers from another dimension. "Yeah, let's just go." The guard turned and began walking, and I followed behind him. He led me back into the castle through a few long hallways and down a flight of stairs before stopping before a large double door.

"The princesses await you inside." He said before walking away. Leaving me alone in the hallway. It felt odd for some reason. Maybe it was because, normally, when I went to dinner with another royal family. I had my whole family with me. My dad, with his fashionable Plated tuxedo suit of armor and draped fur cape. My mother and her beautiful velvet dress always caught the other families' eyes. It even caused one king when he was intoxicated to hit on my mom in front of my dad. That was a fun night. Then my sister, well, she didn't take those dinners very seriously as she was the primary diplomate. She knew everyone in the other royal families and traveled far more than the rest of us and dressed in more casual dresses than my father would have liked. But he was always secretly impressed with her skills to get close with the other kingdoms. Im surprised to this day that he chose me to groom into the next king instead of her.

Or maybe it was the lack of a grand entrance that made this whole thing weird. Normally there would be a small parade to celebrate the other families' arrival, some extra festivities, then the actual dinner. But here I was simply fetched by a guard and was brought in with no extra announcement or anything o the sort. I was secretly relieved on that front as I prefer not to have a grand entrance if possible. I was always rather opposed to the "Popularity" of being a royal. Hence my restraint of telling to two princesses about my royal heritage. That and im not much a prince of anything, not anymore. By the elements, that thought alone makes my stomach ache and my head tense up. Im not a royal anymore by logical stance. My kingdom is gone, reduced to a crater, along with the other kingdoms. So any proof of my lineage rests within me and me alone. And Romulus of course but given the lack of technology around here. I doubt they would trust the word of a machine. Even though that isn't all he is. And to be honest, I've never really wanted the royal life to begin with. Well, that may be a stretch to say, but I'm not sure.

It's not that I didn't want the responsibility or couldn't do the work. That was the opposite, actually. I did a lot of work, not for my royalty, but for my passions, my dreams, if you will. I am a self-taught blacksmith turned engineer, and one of the best, according to the others I've met. I studied magic on my own with countless sleepless nights in the royal library but never atunned to an elemental. I was quick with my reflexes and was naturally gifted with intelligence. The only thing I was taught heavily was in self-defense by Romulus at my father's wish. I learned how to use a blade and that took some practice, but I got it in the end. But I was often isolated. I distanced myself from people as, most of the time. It just got in the way. Wasted time, in my opinion. If I was to catch my dreams, I needed to learn. And being in the kingdom with the most expansive collection of knowledge of the twelve kingdoms. So I abused my library privileges. If I was to be a dragon rider, there were things I needed to do. People just got in the way.

I found myself and brought myself back down to earth from my deep memory dive and pressed my hands on the doors with a deep breath and pushed it open.

My eyes fell upon the most gorgeous and long dining table I had ever. Decorated silverware, fancy napkins, candle holders, along with the largest chandelier known to man. The room was dimly lit except for the table itself, which was booming with light. At the far end of the table, I saw Celestia sitting and gazing at me with a smile as she waved me in. Her sister Luna sat midway on the right side, looking at me blankly.

"Ah, there you are! We were beginning to think you wouldn't show! Come, have a seat. There's a chair right in front of you. Then we can get started on the food. I am famished." she said joyfully as she looked at her sister.

"You're telling me. My stomach has been grumbling for a hot minute." I said, sitting down at the chair in front of me on the opposite end of the table from Celestia, closest to the door. It was very comfortable, and the armrests were padded nicely.

"Now this is FANCY fancy," I whisper so no one can hear.

"Now then, let's get the food started first," Celestia said, levitating a bell from under the table and ringing it. Suddenly three ponies in suits came from different doors around the room. Two went to each of the princesses, respectively, and one to me. Handing me a menu.

"My sister and I know the menus by heart, But please feel free to order whatever you wish," Celestia said, turning her attention to her waiter.

I thanked the waiter and opened the menu and after just briefly skimming through the options. One of my hidden fears with the ponies was realized. They weren't much meat eaters, which made sense, but I still had a little hope- wait a second! They eat fish! Ah-hah! I stopped on a few items. Generally tuna and such, but I was thankful as I was never a big veggie guy.

"Can I have a foot-long Tuna sandwich?" I asked.

The waiter looked at me with confusion. "Foot long?" He questioned. Figures, they have hooves, not feet.

"Sorry, a measurement from home." I started trying to find a good way to describe it. "You have baguettes, right? Long things of bread about this long?" I asked, holding up my hands a foot apart to show the size.

"Yes, of course. Do you want your sandwich that big?" He asked, just making sure.

"Yeah, and could you cut it in two, so it's not awkward to hold? Please." I asked.

"Of course. Anything extra?" he asked, writing in a little notepad. I looked back quickly at the menu before responding.

"Can you put some swiss cheese on it with a dab of ranch along the whole thing?" The waiter gave me an odd look when I said ranch.

"Hey, don't look at me like that, man. I know im weird." I joked, nudging him I the shoulder. Getting a chuckle from both of us.

"And to drink?" He asked.

"Um, if it's not too much trouble. I've been CRAVING a tall glass of chocolate milk all day." I said with a chuckle.

As he wrote in the notepad, I saw a smirk on the waiter's face. "Got it. Your food will be out shortly." He said before going back through one of the side doors.

"Chocolate milk, huh?" Celestia giggled from the other side of the room. Luna with a smile on her face as they both looked at me.

"Hey! Chocolate milk is awesome! What would have brought me to the dinner table growing up if it weren't for chocolate milk?" I joked. Getting laughs from both the princesses.

"No argument here." Celestia started. "Luna is incredibly guilty of being rather fond of chocolate milk growing up." She said, looking to her sister, who blushed at the remark.

"Tia, come on! I grew out of it!" She said defensively.

"Now, come on, it was nothing to be ashamed of. In fact," Celestia turned to her waiter. "Bring me a glass of chocolate milk as well." I couldn't help but smile. Luna whispered something to her waiter before they both trotted off.

"So, Prince Rileus, I must ask. What brings you to Equestria?" Celestia asked.

I cringed slightly at the prince remark. "Please, just Riley or Rileus. And to be honest. Ending up here in, Equestria, was it? Was a complete accident."

"How so?" She asked.

I thought about the events that caused me and Romulus to flee our home in an untested aircraft and quickly altered it to not bring up the war. "Well, me and my father's royal advisor Romulus were Test flying an experimental craft to test its capabilities in sustained flight over a long distance. Our goal was to attempt to fly around the world."

"My word! Such a courageous endeavor! I had no idea your kind had unraveled the secret of flight, given your lack of wings. It must have taken much trial and error to figure that out." Celestia said, Believing the story so far.

"Yup, of course, the invention of flight was granted to us long before my time, so we've had plenty of experience. Of course, this craft's purpose was far beyond just long-distance flight. It was to be the first of its kind to take us beyond the stars. Recent events in my homeland caused us to want to expand beyond our world to those beyond. This craft was to be tested in sustained flight and then tested if it could break orbit. After that, it was a matter of time before we had a colony on the mood or beyond." I explained.

"Fascinating!" Celestia was eating this up. Her sister was interested, yes, but not to her extent.

"A most adventurous endeavor indeed, but I must say the moon isn't all it's cracked up to be," Luna remarked, looking away and towards the table.

That caught me off, guard. Maybe I underestimated the technological capabilities of the ponies after all. "You've been to the moon?! I must know the details of how you achieved such a feat!" I looked around the table, and I felt a heavy tension in the air. The two sisters' expressions dropped into nervousness, and they couldn't look at each other. I didn't have to be a star intellectual to read that this was a touchy subject. "My apologies. You don't have to say if you don't want to."

They both nodded, and Celestia spoke swiftly. "But anyhow, you are here now. So something must have gone wrong?"

"Yes, indeed." I started. "I do not have the full details on how or why such an event occurred. But I will share what I know. We had run into an incredibly violent storm during our flight, and one of the thrusters in the craft's wings was struck by a wicked red lightning bolt. At precisely the same time, the craft was also struck by a shockwave from an... unknown origin. I know this from a recording from the crash log. The following events were unclear as the footage glitched and was heavily corrupted for a few moments. But then, when the recording became clear again. The craft was coming down and crashed into what you all called the Everfree forest, where I have been living for roughly the last eight months. Six and a half or so for you guys, as im not yet used to the new day/night cycle."

"A rather interesting situation." Celestia pondered. "Do you have any way of getting back?"

"At the moment, no. Not without my craft repaired and flying again. Only then can I begin testing as to what caused my dimensional shift." I ended. At that moment, the waiters came back with drinks, setting down a glass of Chocolate milk in front of the three of us, including Luna. Which caused me and Celestia to smirk at her. I took a drink and enjoyed the chocolaty taste before Luna spoke to me rather suddenly.

"If I may ask. I did try and more than a few separate occasions to reach out to you in your dreams, but I was forcibly removed in a rather painful manner. I would like to know as to why?" She asked, setting a hoof on the table.

"Considering all the things I was going through at the time, Princess. I thought such a thing was an apparition of the mind trying to drive me to insanity. I was simply removing what I thought was a threat to my sanity. I do apologize for whatever pain I caused you. Up until now, my kind was thought to be one of three sentient races to exist. The others being The dragons and the elementals." I said, taking another drink.

"You have dragons in your world too?" Celestia asked.

"Yes, indeed! They are the most respected and honored creatures of the land. They were the ones who granted us the first communion with the elementals and, in turn, granted us our access to magic. Together alongside the kings of dragons and Humanity, we had peace for over Five thousand years." I said, admiring an image of the great beasts within my head.

"We must have very different dragons, then," Luna commented.

"Excuse me?" I said, almost offended.

"What my sister means to say is that the dragons here in equestria are not like that. They are rather hostile and bloodthirsty brutes that eat ponies for fun. They fight and wrestle constantly and are rather hot-headed. And the Dragon king secretly wants the destruction of Equestria. But he dare not try anything in fear of the elements of Harmony." Celestia explained.

Now I was offended, pissed off even. "Just to let you know that just saying that back home would have put you in a mental corrections facility. Because that's not fucking possible. According to the elementals, the dragon race as a whole are like the angels of gods will. They are noble, pure, honest, and have fought for justice for as long as I can remember. You clearly just pissed them off so bad they see you as something that need not exist anymore. So whatever happened to cause this hate between the two of your kinds is solely on you and your people. Not them."

The two sisters were baffled at my sudden rudeness. Luna looked furious, But Celestia waved a hoof for her to calm down and cleared her throat. "Im sorry to disappoint your claims Mister Rileus. But my people have been nothing but kind and respectful to the dragons since our first meeting. It was only until my last meeting with the dragon lord that we made a truce. And he tried to eat me!" I could feel the truth in her words, even using my magic to double-check. Something was amiss here, and I needed to figure it out.

"Well, although that is yet to be seen. I do sense something is odd about this particular issue through my magic and just natural senses. Perhaps with my knowledge of dragon culture and such. I could reason with them and try to understand what the problem is. I also would like to see if they had any insight on Inter-dimensional travel for me. As they were the first users of magic in my world." I said, watching looks of concern sprout on the Princess's faces.

"No, I don't think that's-" I raised my hand to protest.

"Nope, I've made up my mind. Once I get my craft and Romulus safe and sound. I will repair my craft and travel to the dragon lands and see what in the fresh hell happened between you two races because this is downright wrong. In all the manners that are known about dragons, it's just wrong." I ended. The waiters came forth once more with our food and sat down in front of each of us respectively.

I wasted no time digging into my sandwich. And it was good too. We sat and ate in silence. I looked around the room and noticed an empty chair across from Luna. Which naturally made me curious.

"Who's chair is that?" I asked after swallowing my food and pointing to the empty chair.

"Oh, that's for my niece Cadence. She would have been here, but she's out on a trip for me in Manhattan. She's such a delight. You would love her." Celestia said, smiling.

I saw a chance for a joke and shot her a suspicious glance. "What are you trying to say?"

She shot me a confused look as she ate her food. "Hmm?"

"You trying to hook me up with your niece? That's kinda weird, not gonna lie."

She choked on her food and raised a hoof to her mouth in response. Luna had a hardy laugh as she quickly caught on to my joke. Celestia had to take a second and recompose herself before responding.

"Oh, heavens no! I'd never! Cadence is her own lady with her own tastes. I'd never arrange a date or anything like that!" She said, catching her breath from the small choking fit.

"Relax. I was just having some fun and cracking a joke. My dad said that if you can make royals laugh at a first impression, You'll be well on your way to being a diplomatic king one day." I said, Finishing one half of my sandwich and moving on to the other.

"Well, it sounds like your dad was very wise," Celestia responded.

"Hmf, yeah. As both a king and a father." I said, my tone lowering as I thought of my dad.

"So, I know you told us you were in the military earlier today, but you didn't exactly say what you did," Celestia asked, not trying to probe but rather making small talk.

I stop drinking and set the glass of chocolate milk on the table, still holding it. "What did I do?" I asked, feeling a slight tightness in my head.

"Yes, I assumed it was something like coordinating the royal guard or something along those lines, as you and Shining armor seemed to get along so well." Celestia continued.

The tightness in my head grew as I thought of my days in the war. The vivid flashbacks of battles and death. Deafening explosions and gunfire swirled in my head. The screaming of my comrades filled my ears, and I could feel the dirt and blood staining my face. I felt short of breath. I felt heavy in my chest and breathed rapidly and heavily. My grip on the glass tightened and began to shake. Even in my chair, I felt like I was going to drop onto the ground. I stared blankly at the unfinished half of my sandwich as my vision refused to focus and became rapidly blurry.

"Mister Rileus, are you alright?" Celestia asked, clearly sounding worried through all the noise.

The glass I was holding shattered under my immense grip, sending glass and Chocolate milk in all directions. I felt a tinge of pain as a piece of glass cut through the flesh of my palm. I planted both hands on the table to try and steady myself as I felt like I was going to fall. I looked in the corners of my blurred vision to see both princesses stand up in worry. Saying distorted words that I couldn't grasp through everything.

Recovery Pt.1

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The forge was hot, and with each swing of the hammer, it grew hotter. I had already removed my shirt to compensate for the heat. The recent event of the anxiety attack was still fresh in my mind. I had had similar events happen during the war but never like that, not that... extreme. On top of that, they were much easier to keep in check. This time was just... overwhelming. I don't know how long it would have taken to recover from that if I hadn't used the electro-stimulant. Fuck, it just won't go away. Every time I try to focus on something else, it just comes back around to that moment. I was sweating more from the memories that came with this than the heat of the forge was. My mind wandered through my past, and I needed to stop it. Suddenly, I found myself singing in elemental. The clang of each swing of my hammer made a steady rhythm to follow.

"Asche und Feuer fingen im Wind auf,"

clang

"Schwefel und Asche überall in unserem Haus"

clang

"Wir kämpfen, um unsere Leute stark zu halten"

clang

"Granaten und Mörser im ganzen Land"

clang

"Wie Wasser, das durch die Erde fließt"

clang

"Wir werden unseren Marsch nicht stoppen"

clang

denn Krieg war das Lied unserer Herzen

clang

"Dies ist die Macht des Feinsten des Elements"

I stopped, realizing the song I was singing was one we sang when waiting for the next set of ordinances to rain down on us. To me, it just didn't fit where I was now. I prepped a swing to start one more.

clang

"Ich bin der letzte meiner eigenen"

clang

"für den Willen der Elemente verloren"

clang

"unsere Mauern zerbröckelten vor unseren Feinden"

clang

"fürchte die großen Kataklysmen"

clang

"Jetzt bin ich hier, quer durch die Reiche"

clang

"eine unbekannte Welt, ein frisch verletzter Geist"

clang

"Mein Herz schlägt und blutet noch zu den Kriegsgesängen!"

"That was very beautiful, mister Riley." The sudden voice broke my concentration on everything. Causing me to strike the tongs holding the metal I had been pounding. I lost my grip on the tongs, and the metal flipped upward into the air a few inches before, clanging to the counter and rolling off onto the follow towards my feet. I barely swung my feet out of the way of the hot orange metal before it made contact with the solid ground. Sending out a few sparks and fucking up the metal on one of the edges.

"Ugh, now I gotta start over!" I groaned, picking up the metal in the tongs and shoving it back into the crucible. I looked to who interrupted my forging to let loose some of my anger, only to be met with the eyes of Princess Luna.

"Oh, my apologies. I had not meant to cause an issue. Is there any way I could-"

"I thought I asked to be left alone," I interrupted, cutting her off with a twinge of vice.

"Im aware, but I just felt obligated to at least check in on you. Things such as this don't just happen out of nowhere." She said, walking closer to the counter and resting a hoof on it.

"Why do you think im doing one of my main stress-relieving hobbies?" I snarked, tending to the coals in the fire.

"My, I can see that you don't always have such a polite demeanor with all this rudeness coming from you." She responded, slightly annoyed.

"OH, YA DON'T SAY? MAYBE IF YOU LEFT ME THE FUCK ALONE?!" I turned and slammed my fist on the counter, causing some of the tools to jitter. Luna stepped back, visibly shocked. I looked down at my clenched fist on the table and felt it relax as I felt weight release itself from my head and my hand relaxed.

"Im sorry, it's been stressful, believe it or not. You guys have given me every accommodation imaginable to make myself comfy. But I truly only feel at home right here in the heat of the forge. I can't tell you why, as I myself don't think I've figured it out either." I said sincerely.

Luna squinted, staring into my eyes. "I can tell you carry a great amount of guilt and fear within you."

I turned to look away. "What makes you say that?" I asked, feeling slightly violated.

"Because it's the same look I see in my own eyes when I look at myself in the mirror every day." She said, lowering her head closer to her body as if remembering a painful memory.

I looked at her, feeling the pain emanating from her. But something compelled me to say something I didn't even know I wanted to. Something angry and offended by her words.

"You have no idea what we have been through..." I hissed. I felt baffled at myself after saying it.

She took a few steps back, mimicking my own baffled expression. I shook my head, holding a hand to it. "Sheesh, that attack must have messed with my head more than I thought." I felt something tap inside my head in response. Causing a small headache. "I need Romulus back. He was the only one I knew who could tell me exactly what was wrong with me." I added, leaning against the counter and rubbing my brow.

"I see. Well, I also wanted to inform you that since shining armor had informed us of your offer to offer you smithing skills to the guard until we can find a suitable replacement. Consider this stall yours for the time being. Even though my sister insists on being generous, I personally expect at least some form of reparation for our services." She responded.

"Brutal honesty, I can respect that from a ruler. No beating around the bush or anything. Rest assured that I had not planned to take advantage of your hospitality in such a way I would have grown fat and lazy. I prefer to put my mind to use. While working here in the forge, I planned to study your people's laws, culture, history, and other things. My curiosity always gets the better of me. Plus, it might help me not to break any laws or rules down the road." I added.

"Indeed. I, too, appreciate the honesty. Yes, the library shall be open to you if you so desire. And so will my sister and I to answer any questions. But I must inform you that we will not always be available, as we have a kingdom to govern." She responded.

"I am well aware of your very tight schedules. Remember, I was a prince, too, after all. I had my duties and such growing up." I said, turning to work on the leather padding on the nearby workbench whilst the metal heated up.

"Yes, of course. If I may ask, why do you keep referring to your prince self in the past tense?" She asked.

"How do you mean?" I responded, not quite understanding.

"Just now, you said 'was' when referring to your prince title. It has not been the first time you have mentioned it as such. And so I asked out of curiosity why that is so." She explained.

"Oh..." I said, the memory of me looking out the window of my aircraft to witness a firey ball engulf my kingdom flashing within. "It was... something my dad taught me rather quickly into my prince hood to ensure I do not go 'mad with power' and get myself in trouble. He said that no matter what happens or what situation. When you step outside the borders of your kingdom. All power you had as a royal is gone. You are only a royal within your kingdom. It is up to the other kingdoms to respect that title and how they would treat said title, not you. And the same applies to others as well." I explained, hiding the truth.

"Wise counsel, you must really look up to your father to remember so much." She said, looking down at the counter with soft eyes.

"Yes, he was my role model, my hero. He was everything to me. He taught me everything I know in some way, shape, or form. Either by literally teaching me or providing the resources for me to learn. Not only that, he was highly respected by the other twelve kingdoms as being one of the most philosophical of all the kings. Wise words and lessons were his specialties." I said, reminiscing. "If it's all right with you, I genuinely wish to be left alone now."

"Then I shall leave you to your solitude. Sometime after sunrise, you should meet with my sister in the main courtyard out in front of the castle. That's where the pegasi and you shall coordinate your plan for tomorrow." She said, spreading her wings and flying away. I watched her silhouette fade into the sky. I stepped back and went back to work. Pulling the metal out of the crucible and began hammering away.

"We?... What was I even saying?" I mumbled aloud. Letting the sounds of the swinging hammer cloud my mind until I wandered back into the song.

Hours passed, and I managed to repair my damaged armor suit and recalibrate my helmet's heads-up display. It needed to be done at least once a month for maximum performance. But I had neglected it and many other things over the past several days. I kept thinking to myself while I worked. 'Wow, in one day, I managed to find a new civilization, meet and make friends-er-allies with the rulers of said civilization.' It seemed to go by all too fast. Then again, I lived through a war, and that seemed to drag on for years, which it did. But not as long as it felt. Now, to me, peace just felt weird. No distant sounds of gunfire. No moaning and groaning of the wounded a few tents over. No sudden explosions made me jump to my feet and grab the nearest gun I could find. Just a deafening silence that, for some reason, scared me.

I sat staring at the horizon and watched the sky turn orange as the great sun rose into the sky. Oh, how I could sit there and watch it a million times. So beautiful. My previous thoughts vanished as I enjoyed the peace for but a few moments. Then the current task jumped into my mind. I focused myself and began throwing on my armor. I hooked my father's sword and scabbard onto my back. Leaving the heavy duffle bag in the forge before setting off toward the main courtyard as Luna instructed. I held my helmet under my arm as I walked. Other ponies I walked past looked at me in surprise and shock, going out of their way to stay a few feet away from me. I paid no mind to them, I had a mission, and I was set on completing it.

After heading to two incorrect courtyards, I asked one of the guards for directions to the one I was to meet the Princess at. Upon arriving, I saw Celestia standing next to a railing that overlooked the valley below. I stepped closer to her, and her ear twitched as she turned to face me. "Ah, you're here early. Good. I was just waiting for the pegasi to arrive." She said with a smile.

"Seid gegrüßt, Majestät, Elemente erblicken uns. And of course im here early. I always thought it better to be early than late. So I always make sure im early." I responded, taking a spot beside her next to the railing.

"A good quality to have. Another teaching from your father, I presume?" She asked, leaning against the railing.

"Surprisingly enough, no." I started. "You see, I always hated going through the same boring apology about being late and this, that, and the other. Not to mention the feeling of being late or running late just didn't feel well. So I decided to be early for pretty much everything. That way, I wasn't late, and I never felt that horrid feeling again."

"Hmm, I see." She said, staring off into the horizon toward a large group of clouds bundled together in the distance with large rainbows flowing from under them like waterfalls.

"What is that thing?" I asked, pointing to the mass of clouds.

"Oh, that is cloudsdale. Home to the pegasi. A city built upon clouds with running rivers of pure rainbows. Im watching for Spitfire and the wonder bolt's approach." She explained, not taking her gaze off what I now know as a floating city.

"Amazing! I've never even thought or heard of such a thing! Does it tamper with the weather in any way?" I asked curiously.

"Not directly, but the city is known for its cloud generators. Capable of producing large storms in a matter of minutes. On top of the pegasi keeping the naturally wild weather under control. They practically run the weather unless for a special request by myself or my sister." She explained, seeming happy to present her people's culture.

However, my heart sank, and it showed on my face. "They WHAT? That's elemental law numero uno! DON'T FUCK WITH THE WEATHER! It's one of the few ways the elementals interact with the world other than crossing over from the primordial realm itself! And breaking this rule is met with Severe punishment!"

Celestia stared at me in surprise and bewilderment. "I've never heard of such a law! And no one has received any punishment from any source for weather management. What are you talking about?"

My own dumbfoundedness sat me in awe at her response. Until my logical side returned to me, and I quickly explained how when the elementals first granted us our elemental magic and crossed over from the primal realm. They set a sort of, realm-wide lawbook in place. Telling us what we can and cannot do with our magic. It was rather short, as they wanted us to succeed as much as possible in the world they put us in. But also put restrictions to allow the elements to stay at the top. Number one was to not tamper with or prevent any natural disasters such as large storms, tsunamis, earthquakes, etc. Of course, they allowed up to build things that would protect us, like tsunami barriers and special foundations for our buildings to withstand earthquakes. But they didn't want anything to stop or inhibit such events directly. It would inhibit the influence of the elementals from the Primal realm, which was directly connected to ours. Doing so would cause not only damage to our realm but theirs as well. Other laws included not tampering with the orbit of celestial bodies such as other planets or the sun, direct matter creation and destruction, and Altering the change of the seasons. All attempts to gain immortality Or any attempts to cross over into the primal realm ourselves rather than with our minds as we were taught. Such violations were few and far between, but some needed their occasional 'redirection.'

Celestia was incredibly intrigued by this, taking in every word and listening intently. Once I finished, she sat and thought on it for a few minutes as we sat in silence before asking. "Are these elementals here now?"

"Do you see the rocks and dirt around the tree as well?" I asked, waving to nature around the courtyard.

"Yes?" she said questioningly.

"That is all the will of the Elementals of the Earth. Along with the air we breathe are the Elementals of the sky, and the water we drink is that of the Elementals of the sea. The final elemental that binds it all together is the elemental of fire. Which we use to cook our foods, boil our water, and warm our bodies. Fire has its way of being intertwined with all the elements on both a large and small scale." I responded, sounding rather... religious.

"You mean to say Im breathing and walking on elementals?!" She asked, looking slightly startled.

"Well, yes and no?" I said, chuckling. "The natural elements that we see now are of the elemental creation. But The elementals themselves take refuge in those natural elements as they are made of the element's purest energy. So yes, you could be breathing and walking on Elementals, but the amount would be none existent. As their energy is spread throughout the world and conjures itself to where we notice it only on certain occasions. Some elements do it more often than others. The element of the sky is the most frequently occurring, as a gentle breeze is most likely, an elementals energy flowing through the world. The most consistent is the ocean with its tides and waves. Water is always moving, but the movement's strength determines whether or not an elemental is present. Earth is the slowest but can sometimes be the most violent and noticeable. The mountain your castle is built alongside is most likely flowing greatly with Earth elementals. Or an earthquake would have a large sum of them as well. Fire is most certainly the rarest of the four, but it is more times than not the most chaotic. Forest fires and volcanos are the most prominent forms. But those are only caused by fire working with another element to occur anyway. Volcanios being Earth and fire working together and Lightning from a storm causing fire to spark in a forest. Thus the cooperation of the sky and fire."

"Amazing," Celestia said, looking up at the grand mountain. "So they are just always here, Watching us?"

"Watching OVER us," I corrected. Celestia looked at me curiously, and I continued. "You see, The elementals are, in a sense, gods of creation. But by far, the main thing that they love doing is creating sentient life, such as you or me, and seeing how far they get in a world, they created for them. My people got as far as finding a way to communicate with the Elementals directly and gaining their respect. According to them, our sentience's ultimate goal is to achieve a prosperous life thereafter. To push the limits of what we can do for as long as we can. While also making sure nothing out of the ordinary alters our world. In reality, they simply protect and watch us and see our far we get as a species."

"So," Celestia started. "Back to the laws and such. Since we have violated at least two of those, Interfering with the weather and, I suppose, helping the seasons changes. Why haven't these elementals carried out any 'punishments'?" she said, smirking as if catching my beliefs in a lie or something like that.

"That... is a good question," I answered, thinking hard. "Assisting the with changing of the seasons does definitely breaks that law, and altering the weather does as well. You seriously haven't interacted with any elementals at all?" I asked.

"No, not at all. Not that I've heard of at least" She answered.

"Then its simply that the sentient races of this realm haven't connected the bridge between the natural world and the primal realm. Before Merlin, my great-ancestor bridged the gap between man and dragon and in turn, the elementals. We didn't even know that the primal realm existed, not to mention that the elementals were in a sense, 'elementals in disguise.' Not to mention we never saw the elementals either until then. My best guess is that until the bridge is connected, Elementals can't directly interact with us and can only use natural elements to show their will. I have to double-check our history and lessons in the unbound arcanum later. Has the weather gotten progressively... nastier or harder to control over the years? Or natural events in general, for that matter?" I asked.

Celestia opened her mouth for a quick answer, then quickly shut it and began thinking. "Well, before the three ponies tribes united, the weather was particularly hard on us. But once we all put aside our differences and unified, the weather changed dramatically in our favor. And over the course of the years to this day, I suppose it has gotten worse. But then the pegasi began policing the weather along with the cloud machines to help control it. But I Will note a few particularly nasty storms worse than some of the ones we've had prior." She continued thinking.

"Then the elementals have taken notice then. They are most likely trying to overwhelm the pegasi so that they stop tampering with the weather. And when that's done, the weather should calm down quite a bit." I said, leaning over the rail myself and looking over the valley. "However, I know the rituals and concoctions needed to gaze into the primal realm. Not to mention the lessons and recipes for them are stored in the Unbound Arcanum. I can most likely bridge the gap that has been here for so long and help you and them reach an agreement as Merlin did oh so long ago." I turned to look Celestia in the eyes. "At your permission, heir majesty."

"I see no reason for you to make up such a random and abrupt idea. The great amount of detail and passion behind it signifies truth. But our ways are ours, and yours are your own. If what you say is true about these so-called 'elementals.' Then I see no reason to stop your endeavors in pacifying them with diplomacy. And considering they can influence the environment with severe storms and other natural disasters. I would not have such disasters befall any of the ponies under my care. Please, do whatever is necessary." She responded.

"Of course, If I were a ruler, I'd do whatever I could to protect those around me. I'd take a bullet for someone if it meant sparing their life. Hell, I HAVE taken a bullet for someone before. But anyways, back to the elementals. In order for me to gaze forth into the Primal realm, I need two things. One is the ritual sigil of the four main elements. It also acts as the symbol for the Elementals as well. We call it the Quadrinity." I said. Celestia nodded in understanding.

"and the other thing?" She asked.

"The second thing is a brew of Primal energy. A potion made from the primal realm's essence and its four main powers, which derive from the four main elements." I explained.

"But I assume you don't have one on hand? she asked.

"No, but I do know how to make one. This is the easy part. In all honesty, the hard part is finding the ingredients. It's only four, but the kind I need are incredibly rare. Ingredients with pure Primal energy are as scarce as they come in the natural world. The hardest of the bunch is fire. I remember reading that Merlin had to jump into an erupting volcano to find his first one. But I know for a fact they do exist, as the elementals said that for each world they create, they put these ingredients in the natural world to make sure we have a chance to connect to the primal realm. It's just a matter of finding them." I responded.

"Well, Im sure the royal library can help narrow your search. You've already stated that the ingredient for fire would be somewhere like a volcano. The firey land of the dragons would be a good place to start, And you already said you planned to talk to the dragons and help smooth things over against my sister and I's better judgment. Where would the others be?" She asked.

"Well, you guys have an ocean, yeah?" I asked. Getting a look from Celestia like I was stupid.

"Yes, of course, we do."

"good, somewhere in there is the ingredient for the ocean," I responded.

"Just in the ocean? Nowhere specific, just in the ocean?" She asked.

"Well, it's most likely in the deepest part of the ocean, like it was in my realm. But for all I know, it could be different here." I responded.

"Okay then, What about the other two, Air and Earth?" She asked".

"I have an idea for air, but it seems too obvious. That rainbow liquid flowing from Cloudsdail could be it. But then again, the one back home was a bolt of rainbow lighting. Earth is both the hardest and easiest, for it is the most consistent being a form of stone or crystal that glows a bright white and seems to shift and move like water but stays rock solid. But it can be ANYWHERE in the Earth we walk upon. And I mean, it can literally be anywhere below ground. Finding it will most likely be a game of chance and a long one at that. It took Merlin almost seventy-six years to find the first one, and his dragon had it use its grand magic to excavate a small mountain!"

"My word, It sounds like you have quite the task ahead of you. I know we have an overabundance of rock farms and mining quarries across western Equestria. I'll is sure to send them word to keep an eye out for such a crystal. I'll also send word to Twilight and see if she can ask her friend rainbow dash to get some of that rainbow liquid to you when she can. I can tell this will be a long endeavor." She responded, Returning to lean against the railing.

"Yes, But I have more than enough time to find it all. And I have a much more pressing matter I need to take care of now: rescuing my friend from that god-forsaken forest." I said with a hint of annoyance. It was then that I noticed a small dot appear in the blue sky. Then another... and another... soon little more than two dozen dots filled the sky and were growing more prominent as time went on. All in a close but obvious formation.

"Ah, here come the pegasi now," Celestia said, pulling herself upright, standing with more royal authority. I did the same, Putting on my helmet and taking on a more affirmative stance myself. We waited for a few moments as the pegasi came fully into few, trailing streaks of thunderclouds behind them as they made a very grand entrance. A loud boom followed, and a shower of what looked like sparks showered the sky. They then followed through on their aerial maneuvers as they swooped in and landed, still in formation. They bore uniforms of multi-colored blue and wore goggles over their eyes. Each pony had a different color mane sticking out the top of the uniform like a mohawk.

I leaned over and whispered to Celestia. "I hope they can bring more to the table than a good show." She responded with a small glare before throwing a smile on her face and greeting the lead pegasus with a firey orange mane as she pulled the goggles off her eyes to rest on her forehead.

"Greetings Spitfire! Please forgive my sudden request. I know it must have been difficult for you to assemble the Wonderbolts like this on such short notice." She said, sounding apologetic.

The pony mare responded in a gruff female voice that was clearly annoyed and tired. "Yeah, It was. I had to pull everyone out of bed in the dead of night to get prepared for this big thing you had planned. I still don't know what you coulda put together that needs all of us at a show THAT fast during our offseason. Although that is the wonder bolt specialty."

"First off, it's not a show. It's a rescue mission." I stepped forward with my hands behind my back, making my presence known. My inner general showing through.

The lead pony Spitfire shot me a glare, which I ignored. "And who is that?"

"That is my guest, Prince Rileus. And he isn't wrong. It's not a show but rather a very important mission. He needs an aerial team to help rescue a close friend from deep within the Everfree forest." She quickly explained.

"Is that so?" Spitfire responded, raising an eyebrow. She trotted toward me and began circling me. Looking me up and down as if investigating me before stopping and looking at my face. As if seeing through my helmet. "Doesn't look like a prince to me, Doesn't even look like a pony for that matter."

"He is new to Equestria, And he has shown his share of proof that he is royalty," Celestia responded, looking rather nervous.

Spitfire trotted around me again, then stopped and looked at my face again. "So you're the wise pony who pulled my entire team and me out of bed in the dead of night to what? Save your friend that got lost in the woods? Im sorry, but that sounds like a job for somepony else." she said, very much so, allowing her annoyance to flow with each word as she sassed me.

"Actually, MA'AM. I needed you and your squadron to Evac a very large and very heavy Aircraft out of the Everyfree forest that was carrying both my comatose friend's body and several priceless magical artifacts from my homeland. I hope that's not a problem for you and your squad MA'AM." I responded with every bit of sass she gave me. During the war, As long as you treated me right and with respect, we would get along great. Treat me like shit, and you got every ounce of it back tenfold. That's How I ran my armies as a general. And that was showing in full force right now. And Spitfire did not like it at all.

"Excuse me? Do you know who you're talking to?" She responded with more sass. Stepping closer slowly.

"No, I don't, actually. All I know is you lead this group of winged ponies who are supposed to be helping me. But so far have only gotten and dazzling light show, and a whole lot of fucking rudeness and sass from someone I haven't even met before." I responded, not backing down. I could tell Celestia wanted to step in, but didn't know how to.

"Well," Spitfire started as her face turned red with anger through her uniform. Getting even closer to my face. "FOR YOUR INFORMATION, I am captain Spitfire of the wonderbolts, The best aerial performance team IN EQUESTRIA. And we don't take kindly to random creatures claiming to be princes making us crawl out of bed at two o'clock in the morning to haul some 'aircraft.' out of one of the most dangerous forests in Equestria."

I once again did not back down. In fact, I leaned in closer. "That's good to know, CAPTAIN spitfire. Im SO sorry that I had to call you all out of bed so early in the morning, so please forgive me." A small smirk crept into her face, thinking she won. Boy, was she wrong. "Unfortunately, I don't give a flying FUCK who you are or what your team does. Right now, I need a group that can carry a lot of weight over a long distance. Not one that creates a firework by flying really fast. CAN your squad deliver that, MA'AM?"

Spitfire crouched down as if ready to jump and pounce on me, wings flared. I smiled under my helmet. "Be careful now, Miss spitfire. The Princess is watching. How would you think your reputation as the esteemed captain of the wonderbolts be after you assaulted a royal guest of the Princess?" Spitfire's eyes widened slowly as she turned towards Princess Celestia. Who was watching the whole situation unfold. She quickly composed herself and took a few deep breaths before saying.

"Celestia, a word in private? NOW."

"Of course," Celestia responded as the two trotted away. I stood there holding my pose as they walked off. Spitfire shouted a phrase to the ponies in formation as they broke their own stances like a commanding officer saying 'at ease.' One of the larger Pegasi Stallions with a very dark blue mane and green eyes trotted over to me.

"I have never in all my years as a wonder bolt seen someone talk like that to Spitfire." He said, sounding quite shocked.

"Then she shouldn't have come at me like that. However, I do understand where she's coming from. Yes, I bet you're all tired and fairly grumpy because of the circumstances. I was in a leadership position in the military back home, so I get it. But I live my life as a general by a very simple philosophy when it comes to leadership. 'Do no harm, take no shit.' Which basically means, 'you treat me right, ill treat you right. Treat me like shit, and ima treat you like shit.' Very simple stuff." I responded.

"Yeah, I get that. But dang, that was something else." The stallion responded. Quickly reaching out his hoof. "Im Soarin, by the way. Second in command of the wonderbolts." I gripped his hoof firmly into a hand/hoof shake.

"Rileus, but you can call me Riley. I don't particularly like to show my Prince title, but yes, I am a prince. Believe me or not, it's the truth, but you do not have to address me as such. I'm not too fond of it."

"Yeah, I gotcha." He said, breaking off the handshake. "So, if you don't mind me asking. You said you needed us to carry an aircraft out of the Everfree forest, right?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Well, if its and aircraft, why isn't it, you know. In the air?" He asked nervously.

"That's a bit of a long story that I'll shorten down for convenience. About eight months ago, six for you ponies. I crash-landed In the Everfree forest inside the craft due to a critical thruster failure. Woke up with a concussion and several other injuries. My partner, whom we will go to save here soon, hopefully, Was in a comatose state in the passenger seat with more severe injuries than me. Fast forward trying to survive in that wretched place for six months, and here we are." I explained.

"Okay, Understood. How big are we talking for this thing anyway?" He asked.

"lemme show you..." I said, pulling my wrist around and opening my wristpad. Quickly uplinking it to my helmet, I use the helmet's built-in holo-projector to cast an accurate life-size model of the craft in a large open space of the courtyard. It stood roughly four of me high and was very large. Two swiveling disc-like thrusters sat inside the wings, with two thrusters sticking out the back just above the rear ramp that led inside.

"SWEET CELESTIA! How much does that thing weigh?!" He asked, baffled.

"Roughly eight thousand pounds," I said, cutting the projection. "Then again, it is missing part of a wing, among other things. Plus, I can probably finagle the ship's artificial gravity system to make it lighter."

"Okay, that's a little better. But eight thousand pounds!? Sheesh, we really got our work cut out for us this time." He said, rubbing his forehead with a hoof. Interesting... they also use pounds to measure weight here.

"You think your fellas can handle it?" I asked. "Because I need this thing up here in canterlot, preferably on the other side of the castle closer to the forge, so that I can repair it."

"Oh my- you need it up here?" He said, sounding even more baffled. "Gosh, we're probably gonna need to stop and rest a few times before hauling it all the way up the mountain."

"Oh, I fully expect you all too," I responded. I got a shocked look from Soarin in response. "What? Did you think I was gonna make you all do it in one go? FUCK NO. I would only trust you guys to do it in one if yall were that confident you could. But I would like you all to at least try to carry it out of Everfree on the first stretch. I would rather not deal with the timberwolves any longer than I have to."

"Well, that's a relief. Wait, why are you gonna be dealing with timberwolves? I thought we were gonna just carry it out?" He asked.

"We are. But whos going to attach the ropes for you all? Not to mention I have to get to the damn thing to signal you all where it is, along with clearing the leaf ceiling that has covered the forest so we can actually get the thing out. Trust me. I have a whole plan thought out." I explained.

"ALRIGHT, WONDERBOLTS! BACK IN FORMATION!" I heard Spitfire yell as she and Celestia both came back into view. Spitfire still seemed annoyed but nowhere near as upset as a few minutes ago. The Rest of the pegasi, including Soarin, dashed back into their positions. I'll give Spitfire this. She has a good hold of her troops if her squad follows her orders like that. Loyalty is everything in leadership, that and trust.

"Rileus, a word?" Celestia called out, still a ways away from the group. I walked over, crossing my arms.

"I told you just to call me by Riley. I know you say my full name out of respect, but It's really starting to bug me," I said, annoyed.

"Look," Celestia started sounding stern, seeming to ignore my statement. "I understand your worry about your friend, as am I to an extent. But picking fights with other ponies as my guest, not to mention one as important and popular as Spitfire, Is unacceptable."

"What?! She came at me that that shit first! I said it once, and ill say it again, I live by a simple philosophy, 'Do no harm, take no shit.' Treat me right, and I'll treat you right. That's it!" I retorted, sounding upset.

"I know, I know," She acknowledged, waving a hoof, trying to tell me to calm down. "I told her that while we talked. Along with that, she needs to work with you, not against you. Give her your plan, and she shall deliver results as she always has."

"IF her results are unwavering rudeness along with slight racism, I dunno if I wanna work with her. Soarin, her second in command, seems much easier to work with." I responded.

"Slight racism? What are you talking about?!" She responded beweilderly.

"hE DoSeNT lOOk LikE A pONy tO mE?" I said, mocking spitfires voice.

"Oh my," Celestia started, raising a hoof to her head. "I don't think she meant it to come out that way. She was just making an observation about your species."

"Doesn't mean it's not racist!" I retorted. "Plus, the way she said it, with that tone, just screamed racism."

"Okay, okay, okay," Celestia said, rubbing her head. "Just please do try to make this work. The wonderbolts are the best aerial team in Equestria, and for a good reason! That's why I asked for them specifically. Plus, this will only be brief, so you won't have to 'deal' with it for long."

"Yeah, ok, I get it." I agreed. "But I will say this, If you have unicorns with strong levitation abilities, or perhaps you and your sister could pull yourself away for a few moments. Once we get this thing up here, I guarantee the wonderbolts will be exhausted. Any help to take the load off of them would be greatly appreciated."

"I'll see what I can do." She winked. "Now you might wanna go brief Spitfire on your plan before she leaves." I nodded and returned to the group of pegasi. Spitfire noticed and turned to face me.

"Alright, hotshot. Soarin said you had a plan, so let's hear it." She said, keeping her original authoritative and annoyed voice.

"Alright then," I said, pulling up my wristpad and using my helmet's stronger project to cast the map of Equestria onto the ground
without trouble. The map zoomed in onto the Everfree forest. "The plan is simple. Im going to go into the forest by ground and use my wirstpad's tracker to find my ship. Once I do, I'll use my magic to clear the plant-based ceiling that covers the forest and send a signal up to mark my position for you guys. While you guys make your approach, im going to set up several cables and such to toss up to you all so we can lift the craft out. As when we crashed and dug itself pretty deep into the dirt. After that, You guys will carry the craft along the fastest possible route back to the base of the canterlot mountains while taking rests whenever needed."

"Pretty solid plan." Spitfire said, nodding, "Except for the fact that we can just skip the whole part about having you find it from the ground and just fly to the thing if you can track it through that thing." She snarked as she pointed to my wirstpad.

"You got X-ray vision and a spell to disperse the plant ceiling? Because while I was stuck in that horrible place for the last eight months, I couldn't see the sky through it, and it was stronger than steel. Couldn't cut it or push my way through it. Plus, to disperse it, I need an artifact that's inside the craft. So I'd have to go in from the ground anyway."

"Tch, fine. C'mon Bolts, let's wing it!" She yelled, spreading her wings.

"Question, Who's gonna carry me?" I asked.

"Huh? You can't fly?" Spitfire responded, confused.

"Of course I cant Fly! Do you see any fuckin wings on me?! And Im not gonna fucking leg it to Everfree from here if yall can fly. So, I'll ask again, who's giving me a ride?"

Recovery Pt.2

View Online

I heard the wind whistling past under my helmet as we soared through the air at incredible speed. My helmet protecting my eyes. I was hunched down, practically hugging Soarin so that I wouldn't drag our speed. I looked down towards the ground hundreds of feet below. I felt only slightly nervous, but that was expected without a seatbelt or safety harness and being thousands of feet in the air. The only reason I wasn't more nervous was because of the conditioning I received during the war. Plus, I had been a rather exceptional pilot in the later years of the war when the dragon riders lost the battle in the skies early on in the war. But now things were different, more peaceful. I could finally enjoy being up in the skies rather than searching for my next target.

"Hey, Can you move whatever is digging into my upper back? It hurts a bit."

I looked down and found myself resting my body weight on my elbow, which was digging into Soarin's back. I quickly moved my elbow and readjusted myself. "Sorry, my bad." I apologized.

"You're alright. Try to keep your, Knees? A few inches away from the wing joints as well. Makes it difficult to fly." Soarin added. Following his request, I flattened myself out. Almost lying on the pegasi face down with my knees resting on his haunches.

"God, this is uncomfortable and hard to keep balance." I strained, trying to balance myself out to not fall off his back.

"You're telling me. Those knees of yours are really boney. Thankfully we're almost to Everfree." Soarin Replied, angling his wings so he glided down toward the ground.

I could now clearly see the forest come into view. That gloomy dark forest of twisted trees held a horrid natural presence in the air even this far away from it. I could see the small mountain deep in the uttermost center of the forest, but only slightly. It was covered in a haze that made it seem almost mirage-like. And as I came in on the final landing approach, I suddenly felt a nasty magical presence in the air. One that I had not felt in my prolonged stay in the forest prior. It felt... damaged, like a wounded animal crying out for help. I had never felt such a magical presence in the air, not only of this type but also this prominent.

As Soarins hooves touched the ground, I rolled and planted my feet on the ground and got out of that uncomfortable position as fast as I could. I stood and stared into the dark depths of the forest in front of me.

"This forest keeps surprising me at every turn, I swear." I thought aloud.

"Huh?" Soarin said, approaching on my right.

"What are you on about?" Spitfire said, coming up on my left.

"You guys don't feel that?" I asked, turning my head slightly to face them, not taking my eyes off the forest.

"Feel what?" They both asked simultaneously. I stood there in silence for a few moments. A loud buzz of unintelligible whispering sounded in my ears. Growing louder with each passing second. I shook my head violently, Silencing the noise and regaining my focus.

"Nothing, forget about it," I said, pulling up my wristpad and checking the map for the ship's tracking blip. "Okay, Im gonna run in and find my ship. You all circle the sky and wait for my signal. It'll be obvious and bright."

"Alright, fine. Just don't take all day. I have a wing massage planned later this afternoon." Spitfire said, taking off into the sky.

"Hey, watch yourself in there, okay?" Soarin said before he to took off into the sky.

I turned on the same high-pitch frequency that made the timberwolves fuck off the last time and took a deep breath. Before dropping myself into a low stance and charging into the woods in full sprint. I had the map of the forest overlayed on my helmet hud. I vaulted over overgrown roots and fallen rotted-out trees. I jumped off some of those logs, grabbed a branch, and swung off of it over a thick set of thorn bushes on the other side. It didn't take long before the hunting howls of the timberwolves filled the woods. I knew I was gonna be on a time limit before the entire pack was upon me, even with my sound deterrent. But clearly, it was shorter than I thought, So I picked up the pace.

I saw a clearing coming up and assumed it was the same one I crashed in at first. But the blip on my map was a while off still. My natural curiosity got the better of me, and I went in investigate. When I exited, I felt my gaze fall upon an ancient and ruined castle. What seemed to be the main central hall had all but caved in on itself and was overgrown with trees and moss. Every glass window was shattered and ruined, and the stone that made the walls had fallen into utter neglect and disrepair. The grassy hill it sat upon was overtaken by nature and taller than most fences and gates. What were the remains of a dirt path or road leading from the decrepit main gate down to a surprisingly sturdy rope bridge. And weirder enough, the tree ceiling didn't reach the castle at all. But was instead cut off as the treetops came to an abrupt stop around the chasm that separated the castle from the forest.

I also felt that same magical presence from before, only stronger and more prominent and strangely familiar. And those whispers crept back into my ear, only softer. And more alluring than anything. I was compelled to go into the castle by them. But it didn't matter much as I wanted to go in the first second I saw it.

I slowly made my way inside, checking around for anything really. I was just curious and let my body rummage around this old place. It was also the first time I encountered an ancient ruin of this magnitude. Most of anything like this we found back home were lost artifacts of my people's pre-golden age. But the magic in the air shifted once I reached the center of the main hall, or at least what was left of it. Instead of lingering everywhere in the air. It focused on a central point in the main hall in the shape of a ball. And the whispers changed as well, instead of a lot of unintelligible voices. Two distinct and familiar voices were engaged in a heated argument about... something.

"Is this what I think it could be?" I asked aloud, approaching the magical sphere that echoed these voices. I reached my hands out around it, and I felt the magic ripple and echo back and forth against my hand. I then knew exactly what it was. It was a magical echo. Echos like these were discovered back home after two mages engaged in a heated magical battle while training. Had such a force behind it, it left a magical echo in time. And when one was unbound and interacted with it magically. They would gaze upon the events that made such an echo. Essentially a living memory in time and space. They found a way to create these later on in a less destructive manner. But magical clashes of epic proportion still could make these if they were violent enough.

But this one was BIG and very powerful. Whatever made this one was a very powerful battle or clash indeed. I channeled my magic into my hands and prepared to gaze into the echo. What I saw was very interesting. The echo was brief, but carried a great number of emotions. Anger, hate, sadness, and many more. But what I saw were two winged unicorns. One was clearly Celestia, six glowing gemstones circling her. Even gazing into the past, I could feel the raw power that she emanated. The other was far too similar to Luna, only a wicked and twisted form that only gave off anger through raw power and corruption. I watched as Celestia blasted the other with untold magical power, sending the other to the moon. Indenting a unicorn-shaped symbol across it. The echo ended abruptly, repeating the same instance a few times before I backed away.

"This world has a more complicated history than I thought..." I pondered. This information was interesting, for sure. After all this is done, Romulus is back up and running again. Im going to ask the sisters about this. Focusing on the orb again, I channeled the magic within into the stonework of the ruins and into the air. Dispersing the concentration of magic. The whispers in the back of my mind ceased, and I gained a sense of clarity.

I lingered in the ruins, poking through ruined books and tomes before moving on. Going out the rear of the castle and dashing back into the woods. I went onward for roughly five minutes when the comforting blue light of my head flashed red, and a proximity alert went off. I felt something rush past me from behind. I spun around, drawing my hand cannon. Only to see the ass end of a timberwolf scramble back into the forest.

"They're trying to do hit and runs now? Fuck, they got bigger stones I gave em credit for." A voice in my head told me that wouldn't make sense. They are literally made of wood. I then proceeded to argue with myself about metaphors for wooden creatures for the rest of my journey whilst also dodging hit-and-run attacks from the timberwolves.

I hacked away the bushes and branches as the thick overgrowth opened into the clearing I knew all too well. There lay in the center was my crashed aircraft. The rear exit had a large canopy tent made of animal hides from my previous hunts. Moss and grass had already covered the ripped-up earth from my crash landing and the edges surrounding my craft. The metal that made up the outer hull was untouched by the effects of nature. No moss grew upon it nor rusted in the slightest, still shining bright as if freshly polished. One of the main reasons we built with Element steel back home was its ability to resist the effects of time and nature.

I walked towards the rear of the craft, the entry ramp still locked in the open position due to the crash damage. Inside, a proximity sensor detected my presence and turned on the lights. The metal floor was covered in a large fur rug. The walls had tally marks carved into them, marking my days spent in this forest since the crash. The rightmost wall was hollowed out and had a bed compartment fitted with a pillow, sheets, and a blanket. All strewn about on the thin mattress. The leftmost wall held several storage lockers, including the one holding the other nine Unbound Arcanums.

I walked to the cockpit towards the front of the craft as I exited the short hallway as it opened up to my left and right like a shovel head. The walls on my left and right were covered in shelves that held artifacts my father had loaded to save from my home's cataclysm. On the floor was the still mangled robotic husk of Romulus. He had unmoved from the position I last left him in; a thick layer of dust covered the upper part of his chassis. I knelt down next to him. "Don't worry, my friend. Im gonna get you out of here." I said, resting a hand on his shoulder. I left the craft and climbed atop it, getting a good look at the plant ceiling that was now my main obstacle.

"So, I have a few things I could try here. But I think the easiest is to cut a massive circle around the edge and pop the ceiling off rather than just try to burn my way through it." I Brainstormed aloud. Focusing, I conjured a disc of fire in my hand the size of a large serving plate. I levitated it into the air and sent it to the edge of the clearing, and got it into position. Then I enlarged it three times bigger than it was. I could feel the mental drain on such a spell, but I powered through as it would only take but a moment. I held out my hand and slowly turned. The disc moved clockwise with my turn as the smell of burnt wood filled the air as it cleaved through the wood. I did a full 360 and released my hold on the spell as the firey disc flickered away. I then focused my mind on a new spell, made entirely of sky runes. As a large sigil appeared, the air above me filled with sky runes. Glowing a lightning blue as I felt a low rumble of thunder in the back of my mind. I thrust my arms upward and cast the spell as a loud thunderclap rang out. Sending the cut ceiling into the sky and falling apart into branches and leaves.

I fell to my knees, breathing heavily. "Well, that part is done. Now, I gotta signal the others. I just gotta catch my breath." I don't know who I was talking to. But after a few minutes, I felt light-headed. I stood up too fast and nearly passed out on the spot. Falling back on my knees again. "Fuck it. Ima just do it now." I focused fire into my palm again, but this time it changed colors rapidly. Then I flicked it upward as it took off like a firework shooting out small multicolored explosions before ending in a final bang.

That final spell got me. I tumbled to my side and off the top of the craft. Landing on the ground below with a thump face first. I rolled over, groaning in pain as I gazed up at the sky. My vision could have been smoother, focusing and unfocusing rapidly. I then saw dozens of black specs appear in my vision. Growing larger and larger with each passing second. I heard the flapping of wings as my head dipped to the side, my eyes closed, as my eyelids grew heavy and tired. I struggled to hang on to consciousness.

"Hey, stay with us, dude." I felt something smack against my cheek with force. Stinging slightly as my eyes shot open. I stared into the eyes of Soarin, who was staring back with concern.

"Yeah, don't die on us yet, two-legger." I heard Spitfire say, out of view.

I blinked a few times and slowly sat up, Soarin helping me. "Sorry, the spells needed to make an opening took a much larger toll on my mind than I thought. I swear I performed way more straining spells like those like they were nothing."

"I would assume so with that light show you gave us," Spitfire said as she kicked the hull of my craft with one of her hind legs. "Did this thing really fly? It looks like an imploded cloud turbine that crashed into a mountain."

"Yeah, it did," I responded, rubbing my throbbing head. "Although it never reached the final product. As of right now, the thrusters could only fly just before the speed of sound. By the time it reached its final phase, it was supposed to fly at around Mach twenty. But given direction mobility at that speed, it wouldn't turn very well."

Spitfire turned and gave me a confused look. "The heck is Mach twenty?"

"Huh, I thought Pegasi would surely use the term Mach. Well, Mach twenty is twenty times the speed of sound."

Spitfire gave out a loud hardy laugh. "Yeah, right. So how do you plan on getting this thing out of the ground? We can't really get under it for leverage. Not to mention it's absolutely massive."

"I have some cables inside a storage locker." I strained, getting to my feet. "I'll hook them up to various points on the upper hull to keep maximum balance while you guys haul it."

"And what are you gonna be doing while we do all the hard work?" Spitfire questioned, sounding slightly annoyed.

"I will be inside controlling and monitoring the Geomag stabilizers. And before you ask, they will help make the craft lighter to carry and easier to balance." I responded, putting a hand against the side of the craft to steady myself.

"Whatever you say, prince." Spitfire responded with a hint of vice at the end of her sentence as she turned to the rest of the wonderbolts behind her. Ordering them into groups.

She is really pushing it. I thought as I made my way back inside my aircraft. Going through each of the storage lockers until I found my coils of element steel cables. Throwing a coil over my shoulder, went back outside to find soarin was waiting for me. He cocked his head upon seeing the cable.

"Are those going to hold this? They seem pretty thin," he asked worriedly.

"These are pure element steel cables. They are quite literally unbreakable as the tool needed to break them is in another dimension. They will do fine." I responded, climbing atop the craft... again. "So there should be six connecting points. Two on the main chassis, one on both the nose and tail end, and one on each wing." I said to myself, searching for the hooks to attach the cables to. One by one, I hooked each cable. It was easy until I got to the mangled wing.

"well, shit, I guess I gotta wing it for this one," I chuckled, cringing at myself for my horrid joke. I began looking across the mangled wing for a solution. The wing was bent in half and dragged threw the ground on the crash. Causing the thruster to be broken off its three-sixty-degree axle and wedged deep within the metal hull. Several pieces of the wing jutted out in shard metal scraps. I got an idea upon seeing it.

I knelt down next to a piece of scrap and took hold of it in one hand. Leveraging myself against one side of it, the metal began to creak and bend. I kept the same pressure against it until it looped back on itself to form a metal loop onto which I could hook the last cable. I tested the strength of the link by tugging it. Afterward, I stood up, wiping the sweat from my forehead. "There, that should do it."

A flapping of wings filled my ears as Spitfire flew into my view. "We're ready when you are."

"Good," I responded, sliding down the side of the craft. "There are six cables total. Have your boys grab each of them evenly and find a comfortable hold on them. There free to start lifting whenever they're ready. I'll be inside managing the Geomag stabilizers as I said I would."

Spitfire flew off, mumbling something under her breath which I ignored. Heading back inside my craft, I pulled the lever that hung from the ceiling as I walked in. Causing the door's mechanisms to hum to life as the rear ramp door tried to close, but the metal screeching and wincing of the mechanisms quickly halted the ramp's progress. I gave a sigh of annoyance and took a grip of a small handle on the ramp, channeled the last bit of magical will I had into a strength-boosting spell, and ripped the ramp out of its locked position with a loud metal bang. The ramp mechanism gave out with a loud screech and pop, but I simply pulled it into its upright position, where it locked itself in place. I then sat down in my seat at the pilot console. Going through the normal startup buttons, I saw that the large holographic screen appeared in front of the windshield's shattered glass.

"I hope you guys down below had a good rest 'cause im gonna need some juice," I said aloud, thinking of my arc elemental companions below the floor.

Skipping through the majority of the engine startup and flight prep programs and tests. I focused on the Geomag stabilizers phase, and it was just as I figured. I needed to recalibrate everything to the new geomagnetic field of the planet, as this was not the same planet as the one in my home realm. I started the calibrations, having to run several tests on the atmosphere and other planetary features in the background when the whole craft began to shift and creak. The dirt on the outside of the glass began to shift as I felt the craft start to lift. Instinctively, I grabbed my seatbelt and buckled it. I could tell how straining it was on the pegasi by how slow the craft of rising, one inch at a time. I started to work faster.

Once the first phase of testing was done, I tested the stabilizers to ensure they wouldn't BLOW UP on activation. They were slow to start, either from damage or the lack of power in the beginning. Either way, they hummed to life, and the whole craft shot upward at remarkable speed. We cleared the treetop of the forest easily. But thanks to the broken as fuck glass, I couldn't see much else other than that. I minimized the screen and called upon my magic against my better judgment. I focused on a relatively simple rune in my upper throat. The drain on my mind was unnoticeable.

"Rah," I spoke, and a visible shockwave in the air flew from my mouth and vibrated into the glass windshield. Entirely shattering it and scattering the broken shards outward over the forest below. Wind flooded in with fresh air as I looked outward from the cockpit over the land before me. We were up in the air but also moving forward slightly. I plugged my wristpad into the console and uploaded the map of Equestria into the ship's database. Shortly after, a smaller screen appeared on my left in between the two chairs with a live visual of the map and a blimp that represented the ship in the center.

"Alright, good progress so far," I said to myself, reopening the screen and monitoring the stabilizers. For the next half hour, we made decent progress. It was extremely slow going, as the Pegasi still struggled to move directionally, even though the craft was significantly lighter now. While watching the data on the screen, I opened a second one to look over some things about this world, mainly the several species of equine that inhabit it. Starting with an in-depth scan of the pegasi carrying the craft.

It took only a few moments, and an in-depth scan of both a male and female pegasi popped on the secondary holographic screen. Overall, they had DNA and anatomy similar to those of the equine back home. Save a few key but apparent details. One is the wings, of course. Soarin mentioned something about the joint that connects the wings to the body was a ball and socket joint, which was surprising as most bird species had wrist-like joints in their wings, which was still consistent with the rest of the wing's anatomy. But the wings on Pegasi could do a lot more than that of a typical bird. More aerial control and faster wing motions to carry a higher constant speed. Very interesting.

Second would be the clear difference in weight compared to other Equine back home. The pegasi had almost half the weight of the standard horses back home and only two-thirds of an average pony's weight back home. Which made sense as it was a creature capable of flight. The lighter, the better. But the most curious difference was actually the lungs. They were incredibly larger than any Equine id ever seen. Not only that, but the lungs were separate. Each has a trachea, bronchus, and diaphragm. One was attached to the nose, the other to the mouth. Allowing breathing from both the nose and mouth at the same time! Versus a human being, who is only able to do one or the other. Another thing that pegasi could do was breathe in through their mouths and exhale from their nose at the same time! A truly fascinating feat! Such things were only heard of in certain sea creatures back home, such as the arctic sea corra. But never in a birdlike one. Well, besides certain falcons and high-speed birds.

One possible reason for such an ability is the fact that pegasi have an extremely high speed in the air if the calculations on the screen are correct. So much so that at high enough speeds, they need to hold one valve open to let air in and another to let the air out so they don't suffocate themselves. Hence this is a truly remarkable trait. I was never a biology guy, but I quickly became one in the war to expose human weak points and pressure points for close-quarters fighting. I guess I never lost that analytical side of myself.

My train of thought shattered as I heard an all too familiar howl from the forest below. I tried to sit up but was held firm by the seatbelt. Unbuckling myself, I stood up, climbed atop the dash, and grabbed the nearby edge which held the windshield in place as I hung myself out of the former windshield as the wind blew my hair every which way.
Trying to gaze onto the land below.

We had just made it past the forest, and from the edge of trees below came dozens upon dozens of timberwolves. Maybe even a hundred. All are moving in the direction of a nearby town in the distance. My heart stopped, and I could feel my face turn white. I remember the day Shining Armor and his company came and pulled me out of Everfree, those poor ponies. If a small pack rips apart a small company of soldiers that fast and violently. What could that many do to a town of most likely civilians? Something deep inside of me yelled as loud as it could to do something. A part of myself I wanted to keep locked away, my inner general. The One who stood as a wall and single-handedly stopped the enemy's advance on his homeland.

I dropped back down in my chair, closed all programs, and activated the ship's weapons system, consisting of twin 30mm machine guns and a single 150mm cannon. Although the ship was a prototype, I had planned for it to see some form of combat at some point. So I had weapons installed ahead of time. The only issue was the big red error that appeared on the holographic screen with a detailed 3D model of the craft below it. Highlighting three panels that kept these weapons concealed until they were activated. The panels had been heavily damaged and lodged in place from the crash. Sighing from frustration, went back to my position on the dash and drew my sword. I stepped off, stabbing into the craft's hull to catch myself.

I scanned the underside of the hull for the panel. They had a small outline to them, so they were easy to spot, not to mention dented and broken to hell. I sat and kicked the panel as hard as I could over and over again while I hung on the handle of my sword with both hands. Swung back and forth the get the extra momentum to hit the panel that much harder.

I swung myself back as far as I could, pulling out all the stops to hit this panel as hard as I could. My metal boot clashed with a metal clang, and the panels shot off as the barrel of the 30mm cannon shoved it out of the way violently. Sticking out of its socket, ready to go. The metal panel fell through the air below, out of sight and out of my mind. I pulled myself back into the cockpit and repeated the process on the opposite side. Kicking off the other panel for the second 30mm cannon. But the most complicated part now was the 150mm cannon right on the nose of the craft. The panel was at such an awkward angle and was so large that I had to jam my sword into a gap I could barely see. I was trying to use it like a crowbar to pry it off while also keeping my balance on the very small piece of dangerously smooth hull I was lying on. Not to mention I was facing straight down at the lethal fall I would take if I did slip.

Surprisingly enough, The panel popped off just fine and fell downward, along with my father's sword that got knocked out of my hand from the giant 150mm cannon extending from its hole! I reflex cast a telekinesis spell consisting of mainly sky runes in a sigil to halt the sword's descent. Which was hard to keep concentration on as I felt my headache swiftly return the longer I held the spell and tried to pull the blade upward back into my hand to a point where I just had to let it sit in the air, or I would have passed out.

I heard wings flapping as Soarin came into view on my left. He opened his mouth to talk, but I cut him off before he began. "Grab the sword! I can't hold this spell much longer!" I strained. I watched Soarin open his mouth to speak again, so I cut him off again.

"NOW, SOARIN!" I yelled.

He gave me a look of surprise mixed with fear as he dived down to the sword and took the handle in his hooves. As soon as he did, I released my hold on the spell and nearly passed out again. Flopping onto the nose of the craft and almost sliding off the side. I gathered myself and scooched myself backward until I could safely get to my feet. Soarin sat flying next to me and held out the sword, which I gladly took and returned it to the sheath on my back.

"Look, we're going drop this thing off nearby and help Ponyville. That's way too many timberwolves for that town to handle. Spitfire already sent Fleetfoot to warn ponyville." Soarin Said, about to take off.

"NO! Go tell Spitfire to point the nose of this craft toward those oversized weeds, and I'll clear the field!" I yelled, jumping back into the cockpit and sitting in my seat. Activating the weapons system, which pulled up the targeting screen, only to pop up with a progress bar that said "calibrating."

"Im sorry, but Spitfire's orders are final. I know better than to argue with her-" Soarin started, but he was interrupted by me reaching through the holographic screen, grabbing his blue uniform by the collar, and pulling him close to my face. Bringing out my military voice for the first time in years.

"You will go tell Spitfire there will be a lot of unnecessary death today if she doesn't do what I say! If she doesn't like it, then that's too damn bad because I lived in the Everfree forest with these things for almost a year and have seen and felt the savagery of their attacks in groups. Unless we do something to halt their approach on that town, they won't stand a chance. I can provide that solution with the weapon system on this aircraft. I can't aim it well since both the thrusters are kaput. So this task falls on you guys. NOW GO!" I finished, pushing him out of the cockpit and letting go of his collar. His face showed he was clearly intimidated before he flew back up toward the rest of the pegasi.

I sat waiting for the nose of the plane to dip while rebooting the weapons system. Not long after Soarin's departure, Spitfire's face appeared on the other side of the holographic screen. Her face was stern with a mix of determination and anger as she slowly passed through the screen, staring me down.

"Let's get one thing straight here, prince. You may be in charge of this op, but when it comes to the safety of other ponies, especially a whole town, all bets are off. And this situation takes priority over your precious glorified hunk of scrap metal. We are going to drop this dead weight off in a nearby clearing, and THAT'S FINAL!" Her voice was stern and fierce, like a general. Something I could relate to. Clearly, she was experienced in this regard, but I do not think she saw the value of using this 'hunk of scrap' to her advantage.

I leaned back in my chair in sighed, "You're right. I get it. Your people get in harm's way. It's your job to keep them safe. I get it." She smirked, thinking she had won.

"But," I started again, quickly making her smirk disappear. "Considering I spent eight months in the everfree forest with nothing but the timberwolves for company, learning their ins and outs and ways to fend them off. It would be rather foolish to dump me and my ship, Which, might I add, has an onboard air to ground a hundred-and-fifty-millimeter cannon mounted on it, in the middle of a field when it could be used to clear a field of said beasts rather efficiently and quickly. This means This ship has a big fuck off cannon that could greatly help you in dealing with this threat rather than sitting in a field."

I watched Spitfire's mouth contort, and her eyes glared at me, but she saw my point. I could see the gears in her head turning as she thought. She looked down at the field of timberwolves encroaching on the town below. She needs to make a choice soon.

"Do I need to mention I was in the military as well? I know when decisions need to be made quickly. I believe this is one of those times, yes?"

"ALRIGHT, FINE!" She yelled, spinning back to face me. "What do you need from us?!"

"I just need you to point the nose of the ship toward the field and circle the timberwolves. I can do the rest from here." I responded. The yellow pegasus turned and flew upward back to her flyboys. Within seconds the nose of the craft dipped down, giving me a full view of the horde of timberwolves below. The craft soon was circling them. As if on queue, the screen gave a ding of completion, and the progress bar disappeared and was replaced by a flight HUD display with altitude markers, a center reticle, and other mid-flight tools. The steering wheel came from the center console on a mechanical arm and extended towards me. It looked like the top part of an H, with two red buttons on the top of the handles. I took hold as my thumbs rested on those buttons and my index fingers wrapped around to rest upon two triggers on the back of the handles out of eyesight.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes as dozens of memories of missions I did behind these same controls flooded my mind. Dogfights, airstrikes, strafing runs. All of it. For the first time in a while, I was nervous. I opened my eyes and focused on my target. Instinctively I checked my ammo count on the bottom left on the hud, which read 250 on a large ammo counter and 15 on a smaller one just above it. Along with an error above them both that read-

'ERROR: A.L.P.U LINK SEVERED- LIMITED AMMO RESERVES'

"Fuck I forgot about that! Guess ill have to make do with what I got." I said, looking back to the horde, without a moment's hesitation. I clenched my index fingers around the triggers. The twin machine guns roared to life with alternating rapid booms followed by a ca-chunk as another round was loaded. Bright yellow flashes flung out from the craft and into the hoard, ripping apart two or three timberwolves into chunks of wood. Overpierceing their bodies and into the dirt, flinging dirt and debris into the air with each shot. My ears were ringing with pain by the seventh shot, and by the tenth could barely hear anything other than the guns firing. Without the windshield, the loud blast from the guns just ruined my eardrums. I felt something hit my foot as I looked down and saw my helmet skating across the ship's floor. I reached over and picked it up as it slid by and put it on. It muffled the sounds of the guns but not completely silence them, which was better than nothing, I guess.

I watched my ammo dwindle down, to 200, 150, 100, 50, 25, 0. The guns abruptly stopped the barrels smoking and almost red hot. Half the hoard was in pieces, and half of the rest were either wounded or limping. I pressed down my thumbs as a concussive boom rang out from the aircraft. A large shell of bright orange shot out from the nose of the aircraft, rocking the whole thing back. The shell impacted a large chunk of the group and exploded. Turning nearly twenty of the bastards into sawdust and hunks of firewood. Along with cratering the ground and sending fifty feet of dirt airborne. I pressed the button again, and it fired once more, turning another large chunk of the wolves into dust. I repeated until I used all the shells I had left. Besides leaving several craters in the ground, I cleared the field pretty well. The remaining seven Timberwolves looked worse for wear and were running as fast as they could with what legs they had left back to the everfree forest.

However, I wasn't one for leaving survivors of the enemy. I jumped out of my seat to one of the serval lockers on the walls of the aircraft. Slamming my fist on the button beside it to open it. The locker opened with a mechanical whir as the inner wall pushed forward. Presenting a very large and rather sexy-looking LMG. With three boxes mags of ammo hanging next to it. I grabbed the large weapon and loaded a box mag into the bottom of it. I grabbed the lever on the side and cocked the weapon, and it was ready to fire. I jumped out of the windshield and aimed the weapon at the retreating timberwolves. Aiming this type of weapon was very weird as the forward grip for your off-hand stuck out diagonally from the gun. And the circular sight did as well, just not downward like the forward grip I mentioned.

I proceeded to open fire and mowed down the remaining timberwolves with a slew of bullets from the gun. Trying to aim from that distance was hard, but when it comes to an LMG. You have enough bullets that you're firing so fast that it doesn't matter. You'll hit it eventually. I finished and returned the LMG to its locker and locked it up. I turned around and saw Spitfire fly through the screen, taking a double take as she was clearly confused by it, and landing on the floor.

She started talking, but I only heard my ears ringing.

"HUH?!" I yelled. Taking off my helmet, which didn't help.

"I SAID, I'LL ADMIT YOUR HUNK OF STEEL PACKS A PUNCH!" She yelled, clearly agitated. I still could barely understand her over the immense ringing in my ears.

"IM SORRY I CAN'T HEAR YOU! MY EARS ARE SHOT FROM ALL THE GUNFIRE! ALL I HEAR IS RINGING. THE WINDSHIELD NORMALLY STOPS THAT FROM HAPPENING," I yelled, not being able to hear myself.

"WELL, I GOTTA GO CALM DOWN THE LOCALS OF PONYVILLE AND ASSURE THE POPULACE EVERYTHING IS ALRIGHT NOW. ALL THOSE EXPLOSIONS REALLY RATTLED THEM. THE REST OF THE WONDBOLTS ARE GONNA TAKE YOUR THING UP TO CANTERLOT," She yelled back. Flying back out the shattered windshield shortly after.

"ALRIGHT, YOU DO THAT THEN!" I said, not knowing what she said.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Several hours passed before the landing gear touched down on the stone pathing of Canterlot. The best thing Celestia managed for a landing platform was one of the circular sightseeing venues on the edge of the city overlooking the land below made for tourists. Of course, I didn't stick around long. As soon as we touched down, I kicked open the rear ramp, and I had Romulus on my back. I was booking it to the blacksmith's stall like I was carrying a wounded soldier to a medical tent.

I kicked open the gate into the forge and set Romulus's body on a large table. Getting the supplies needed to fix his insides took little time. I did, however, lack the means to cut open the Element steel plating on his chest. Taking off the clothes he wore for some reason was easy. But that element steel chassis of his was strong enough to tank a missile. Not to mention that I was so mentally drained from using magic today that harnessing a beam of magic to cut the metal was impossible. I was searching for a solution when the gate swung, and Shining Armor entered.

"Hey, you are back! I saw the big metal, whatever it's called, from my post and figured you were back." He looked to see the lifeless body of Romulus sitting on the table in front of me. And got somewhat concerned. Even though, to him, It probably looked like a hunk of metal. "Whatcha working on there?"

I turned to look at him, and my eyes went wide as I laid eyes on his horn, and an idea popped into my head "Shining! Come over here. I need your help!" I said, grabbing the collar of his armor and dragging him over.

"Okay, okay! Sheesh!"

"So your horn is essentially a conduit for magic, right? Does it produce focused beams of energy?" I asked, talking quickly.

"Well, yeah, I mainly use a beam spell as an offensive spell when I need to stop crooks or thieves on duty," he responded.

"Not what I wanted, but I can work with it!" I said, tipping his head toward Romulus's chest. "Okay, so what I need you to do is make a small, very concentrated beam of energy and cut open this metal as I instruct you to."

"I-I can't make a beam that small!" He exclaimed.

"Yes, you can! You just need the mental image and the will to conjure it. Here, try putting a large sum of the magic on the tip of your horn, and I mean a LARGE SUM." I said, trying to teach him.

"You mean like a light spell?" He responded as a bright ball of light appeared on the tip of his horn.

"Yes! But like twenty times the amount of energy in that ball." I responded enthusiastically.

"But that'll just turn back in on itself and cause a shockwave of magic! I did it once in guard training. It did not end well," he exclaimed.

"Not if you use that magic to contain itself in a field. Essentially, it is feeding itself to contain itself, so to speak. I've done it dozens of times. I can't right now since I'm mentally drained." I retorted.

"Alright, I'll try it." He said, closing his eyes. I watched the ball of pink light enlarge and shrink over and over as I felt the magic build to volatile levels, then stabilize. Beads of sweat broke out across Shingings forehead as he concentrated. "All right, I think I got it." He said, opening his eyes to a small squint.

"Okay, Now picture sunlight magnifying through a magnifying glass. And the picture that is happening to that magic on your horn. And aim it right above my finger. Try not to hit it, please." I instructed, placing my finger on Romulus's metal chest plate with about an inch and a half of room above it.

Shining clenched his teeth as the sweat dripped off his brow. Suddenly, a beam of concentrated pink energy erupted from the ball on his horn, impacting the space above my finger. The metal grew hot instantly, so I lifted my finger off it slightly. "Great! Thats great! Now follow just above my finger. I'll go slow." I started moving my finger slowly, and the beam followed. We made it halfway down Romulus's chest when I stopped my finger.

"Okay, now split the beam."

"WHAT?! Do you know how draining this is already?!" He exclaimed.

"Yes, but Just picture a mental image of the beam splitting. It doesn't matter in what way. And apply that to this. Once that happens, follow both fingers with each beam." I responded, now pressing two fingers, one from each hand on the metal.

Shining grunted and started breathing heavily. I could visibly see the beam split and began moving my fingers diagonally downward and away from each other. We made it down near the hips when I told Shining to stop. The beams dissipated, and the ball of energy vanished. Shining gasped and flopped onto his belly, breathing heavily.

"WOW! That was exhausting, holy Celestia!"

"Is that how you'll curse here? Using your ruler's name in vain?" I asked as I grabbed a pry bar from my assortment of tools and began prying open Romulus's chest from the new cuts.

"Shut up," Shining responded, sitting back on his haunches, still catching his breath.

I got each piece of his chest peeled back so I could gain access to his innards. In the center Of all the complex circuitry, components, and hydraulics was a very much smaller clear glass canister holding one singular arc elemental within. Who was okay inside its sturdy canister. I could see the underside of Romulus's head from the upper neck portion. Despite being very awkward, I pressed my hand against it in the best position possible. And pushed against it with all my might. But it did not budge.

"Shining, lend me your telekinesis for a second," I asked. He stood up, and I pointed to where I needed him as he enveloped Romulus's head in pink magic. "Okay, now push Hard!" With both him and me pushing, the head slowly moved, and screeching of metal came from the inside until it suddenly gave way, and his head popped out the top into its normal position. Of course, the neck area needed repair everywhere for the AI chip slot to regain connection to the rest of the body. I definitely had my work cut out for me.

"Well, now all I gotta do is rewire and fix all of that." Gesturing to the neck area. "Thank you, Shining, for your help. I literally could not have done that without it."

"Hey, it's no problem. It's a guard's duty to serve the public. And hey, I learned something about magic today. That's a plus." he stated proudly, standing tall.

"Heh, yeah, I bet. Well, Unless you have a heavily advanced understanding of complex circuitry and engineering. Unfortunately, that will be all I'll need. I'll ensure that when I open up shop here, your first few orders will be free, and I'll pay you back in whatever the currency is here." I said, Grabbing some tools and getting to work on what was probably a long night's work.

"I do not know what half the words you just said were. So I'll just leave you to it then. I gotta get back to my rounds anyway. I'll see you around, Riley." Shining said as he left the forge.

"Not if I see you first!" I shouted back.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

After a few hours of work, the main parts of the neck, besides the bulkier wiring, looked good as new. I was rather proud of myself, considering the rather primitive tools at my disposal. I was trying to reattach the wire with my bare hands. Which was extremely hard might I add. Celestia stopped by sometime today to ask what the plan was with my aircraft, as it needed to be moved at some point or another to reopen the platform. I told her if she needed it moved, just drop it off in the space to the right of the forge, hugging the wall. I needed to get Romulus fixed before I could do anything about it. Stating that the blueprints were stored with Romulus's AI chip. Which she had the wonderbolts do about an hour ago.

I plugged the last wire in, and a spark of electricity shot up through my hand so violently it burned my fingertip. I took it and put it in my mouth, screaming swears under my breath as I hopped around the forge. I grabbed a bandage off the shelves and quickly wrapped my finger. I turned back to the machine on the table as his eyes lit up a bright blue, and the small dots appeared, representing eyes looking about the room. The shutters over his eyes blinked a few times before he sat up slowly on the table. One of his hands rubbed the back of his neck and rewired several wires I had yet to do. His fingertips folded back to a small welding torch, and he fixed up his neck in a matter of seconds.

"Ah, that's much better." Romulus's voice filled the room. His voice sounded like that of a very self-respecting butler with a slightly lower tone since it was slightly robotic. I came to know it very well over my lifetime, as he was there pretty much every step of the way.

His eyes focused on me. "Young master Riley! Ah, it's so good to see you in good health, sir! Other than the burn just caused to your finger, of course." I had no words. I don't know why; I just couldn't make out any words.

"Sir? Are you alright?" He asked, concerned.

I jumped and hugged him. Tears filled my eyes as I sobbed. He returned the hug instantly. I remember babbling on Dad and the kingdom and how it was all gone. He tried his best to console me. But I just sobbed and sobbed and sobbed until day turned to night. And the sobbing turned to sleep.

Opening day

View Online

"Sir, Are you sure you wanna do this today? I still think we should hold off a little longer." Romulus asked as he stood in the doorway watching me put on a shirt. His hand was hanging off the upper part of the door frame casually.

"We've already held off for over a week, Romulus!" I responded, pushing past him to grab a leather apron of its hook. "I owe it the ponys to at least start this blacksmith stall again to fix their gear. They got me out of that hell hole of a forest and even helped me put you back together. Besides, I already told Celestia I was opening today, and it'd be a real dick move to go back on my word."

"I know sir, I know. Im just saying you may not be in the right state of mind yet. You practically fell apart the second I got back online, not to mention your lack of sleep I could guarantee is getting to you. Even the last two times this week you tried to sleep, you woke up screaming! I'm sure the princess wouldn't mind if we held off just a tad bit longer." Romulus pointed out. Yes, I haven't been 'all there' since I put Romulus back together. But I felt fine now, and I had a debt to repay.

I sighed, "Romulus, we both know we need money to get on our feet in this world. And We both know there are several broken parts in your head that we don't have the resources to fix yet, and were running a bit low on the essentials besides smithing supplies. We need to get the ball moving NOW if we plan to fix you or feed me. End of story."

A robotic sigh of defeat emanated from Romulus, "Yes, I suppose so, sir. And if we wish to get home, we will need all the funds we can get."

I turned and glared at him. "What do you mean 'go home'? There is no home to return to. Everythings gone. Even if I wanted to visit the crater of Romalaos, we know sweet fuck all about how we crossed dimensions in the first place. That would require years of research, and I'm... no. Im not even gonna bother." I turned back, grabbed a toolbelt to complete my smithing attire, and began loading it with tools.

"But, sir, what if there were other survivors? We can't be certain we were the only ones to escape the cataclysm bomb. For all we know..."

"ALL I KNOW THAT EVERYTHING I KNEW IS GONE!" I shouted over Romulus and cut him off completely. We stared at each other for a minute before I spoke again. "Even if anyone survived, The Arch Elementals abandoned our world, Remember? They wouldn't have lasted long outside the city's shield generator. If the unending quakes and fire rupturing from the earth and the tideless tsunamis didn't kill them. The life-seeking red lighting would have."

Romulus's voice was heavy when he spoke like a wavering sadness and guilt sat upon it. "I Remember... There isn't a day that goes by when I remember seeing our great sun get swallowed by those pitch-black clouds. Never to be seen again."

I felt his metal hand rest on my shoulder. I shook it off and walked to the forge, and knelt down. I snapped my finger while picturing a match flame as a small flame appeared on my finger. I flicked the flame into the wood of the forge as it ignited the charcoal and logs within.

Romulus clearly saw I didn't want to talk about this anymore. So he hastily changed subjects. "Well, If what Captain Shining Armor is true about the state of the guard's gear. Then we will have A LOT of ponies out there wanting their gear fixed. And there are only two of us. How do you plan on serving all of canterlot?"

Graciously thankful for the change of topic. I eagerly responded. "I actually thought about that in advance. We take a certain but rather large amount of orders in one day, but we take the rest of the week working on only those and nothing more. Then we return the orders in bulk and repeat the process until the work dulls down, and we can work on orders as we get them."

"An effective plan, but did you stop to consider that some of these guards have shifts the day after the order or even the same day? They don't have time to wait nearly a week to get their gear back." Romulus stated, being the captain obvious he is.

"Back?" I asked cocking my head. "Im not repairing gear. Im making fresh gear."

"But, sir, that'll take even longer!"

"Yeah, but they will get quality gear and weapons that will last YEARS before they need to be brought back in, considering their 'very intense work.'" I said, holding up my hands in air quotes on the last line. "From what I see, the guards don't do a whole lot of intense work besides catching the occasional shoplifter or thief. They mainly stand around or patrol. So the gear I make will be good and last a while. But it won't be anything to gawk about. Not to mention be very light maintenance. We have the molds and casts for the stuff in the back anyway. It won't be that bad."

I walked over to a lever I rigged up to lift all three of the large rectangular service windows at once and placed a hand on it. "Now, we've held off long enough. Let's get to work." I pulled down as several noises of gears turned camp from the walls as the three windows opened, and gazed upon a large crowd of mare and stallion guards. Mainly stallions.

Romulus and I stared out at the crowd for a few moments. It was less than I expected, but still quite a lot of ponies. "Romulus, give me a head count."

"Around Forty-seven, sir."

"Really? Damn, all right, this week will be a breeze, then. How do you want to split it? Put 'em in two lines and go from there?" I asked, looking up at the living machine next to me. "Bet I could finish my line before you!"

I could see his mechanical eyes drift down to meet mine. Even though he didn't have a mouth. I could tell he was smiling. "Is that a challenge, heir majesty?"

"Maybe it is? Are those old servos of yours making you nervous? Not able to keep up with an able-bodied young man like myself?" I Let my cockiness out with each word.

Romulus stepped forward to meet the crowd of ponies. Two panels on the side of his head flipped open to reveal the two sets of speakers he used for speeches or announcements at dinners. "Attention, ponies of the canterlot guard!" Romulus's voice boomed from the speakers. "I would request that you all to please make two single file lines for us to assist you all quickly and efficiently. As per the request of the blacksmith on hand, we will not be repairing gear. But rather fashioning brand-new gear for you all. So that you may continue your duties with proper attire, it's our promise to have your new gear ready by the end of the week."

There were a lot of murmurs among the crowd as Romulus finished. Some were about the no-repair policy, others about the fresh new gear, but the main discussions were about the one-week wait time.

"One week? We had to wait almost a month with our last smith."

"Now that's fast service!"

"Is the gear gonna even hold itself together with that short of time?"

"Come now, Everypony! Please get into your respective lines so we may get this underway. And please be sure to provide your armor Measurements at the counter!" Romulus added as the panels closed, and he moved from me to the opposite side of the counter. The ponies of the crowd moved as requested into two lines in front of Romulus and me. He looked back at me when he held up three of his metal fingers and started counting down.

3...
2..
1...

I turned to the Mare in front of me. "Welcome To the new Romalaos Smith stall! What shall it be today?"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I Waved at the last stallion as he walked off and closed my notebook, Filled with nearly a hundred orders. It was nearly three in the afternoon, and we had been busy since nine. Once we got through the first forty-seven ponies, they changed shifts, so we had another sixty to take orders for. Which differently put us on the busy side. However, It was alright since I didn't take payment upfront. I run by a "You pay me when you get your product." Makes the process a whole lot smoother, plus when they bring their money around and see how good the stuff I give them is. They'll be more inclined to tip.

I turned and pulled the lever down, and the shutters began to close when I heard a rapid clopping of hoofs. "WAAAAIT!" I heard a familiar voice cry out. I flipped the switch back up, and the shutter re-opened. I saw Shining Armor throw himself onto the counter dramatically. Panting like he just ran a marathon. "I... wanted... to place an order... oh jeez, im outa breath..."

"Hey man, I gotcha. Just take a second and breathe first." I said, grabbing my notebook.

Shining armor stood up and placed a piece of paper on the wooden counter, and slid it over. "No need. I wrote down what I wanted during lunch break. When the mid-day shift came in to relieve some of the other guards, I heard them talking about your stall and how it works, so I took the liberty of doing all that stuff for you. Measurements and all."

I picked up the paper and examined it. It had everything I needed. Except I questioned the nature of the weapon choice that Shining Armor paired with his armor. His armor was meant to be lightweight but provide great protection in vital places. But he paired a halberd with it. And having seen how mobile he is in a fight, I wanted to pitch him a different idea.

"You know these two concepts to work well together, right? You have lightweight armor mixed with a very heavy-handed weapon. The mobility from the armor isn't gonna be as effective." I explained.

"Yeah, but im a unicorn, and I use telekinesis to wield my weapons." Shining rebutted.

"Just because you can make shit float doesn't mean you can mix and match armor and weapons. Because even when that thing is floating, your still going to take time to swing it. And as much as I wish you could multitask dodging attacks along with striking your opponent. That's something not even the human mind can do. It's like rubbing your stomach and patting your head. You can do one or the other really well, but doing both is both crappy and sloppy." I added.

Shining looked at me, thinking. Then he nodded in understanding. "Okay, I see your point. But what does the all-knowing blacksmith recommend?" He said sarcastically.

I overlooked his sarcasm and began explaining his options. "So the first option is to make your armor bigger and more defensive. It'll be slower and bulkier, but it can take way more hits. Better to complement your weapon of choice." I held up a crude drawing for him to see.

Shining shook his head, "Nope. Not how I roll. I prefer to be uninhibited by my armor. It allows me to get ponies out of harm's way faster. We don't get into many actual fights in the guard."

"I figured," I said, crumpling the crude drawing and throwing it behind me. "Now, here's my other thought, and honestly, I think it looks pretty badass in my head." Shining cocked his head at my remark. I shook my head and moved past it. I keep forgetting ponies don't know our swear, not to mention our terminology. "So I was thinking of ditching the halberd and going with a shortsword or longsword. Both have great mobility and pair well with this class of armor, but they are also a favorite of mine. So you'll be getting a top-quality blade." I held up another crude drawing hom shining wield said blade for him to see.

"I like the longsword more. Seems more flashy for a guard." He said, nodding admirably as he looked at the drawing.

"Great! So ill go ahead and change that then and we'll be set!" I said enthusiastically.

"Can I get two?"

"Pardon?" I asked, absolutely dumbfounded.

"Can I get two? Having two would be much more effective than one. Plus, I could stab one in a wall and use it as a step to a high position!" Shining said, not knowing how dumb he sounded.

I sat there and rubbed the bridge of my nose. By the Elements, how could a captain of the royal guard be so fucking stupid? "Do you even know how to wield two weapons at once? It's rather difficult and impractical. That's coming from personal experience."

"Yeah, of course, I do! I learned it at boot camp." Shining retorted. Unswayed from his request.

"Really? I doubt that, considering all the guards I've seen either use a spear or mounted lance. I haven't seen a single one carrying a sword."

"That's because it's reserved for higher-ranking officials such as the princesses or captains. It easily differentiates the low ranks and high ranks. Every captain in boot camp had a sword of some sort." Shining explained.

"I guess that makes sense. But hold up, wait for a second, the Princesses carry weapons?" I asked, surprised.

"Not all the time." He said. "But they do have them. They both have custom-made weapons from an ancient smith from earlier in their rules. Way before you and me. Luna has a custom sword with a crossguard shaped like stretched wings with a crescent moon engraved in it. The blade is moon white, but the handle is a night sky blue. Some say the metal glows with the light of the moon!"

I was eating up every bit of this. I think Shining was too. "What about Celestia? What does she wield?" I asked excitedly.

"oh, she wields a very awesome weapon. It's a spear-axe hybrid polearm that's said to channel the sun's energy itself through it. It's made from pristine sun steel and shines a bright yellow with a brown handle made from the strongest wood in Equestria! The handle was also reinforced with bits of sun steel, so it looked even flashier. And the axe blade has the sun engraved into it that shines the brightest at high noon."

"Alright, alright, enough! By the Elements, you're going to give me a blacksmithing boner!" Shining gave one hell of a laugh at that joke which I joined in on.

"Out of curiosity, though. How do you know what these weapons look like? The princesses don't exactly walk around with them." I asked.

"Oh, they haven't used them in years. Decades even. They keep them stored away in case of an emergency. Celestia showed me them on one of my first shifts as captain, so I knew where to find them on my rounds. I see them now and then." Shining said, seeming to reminisce. "Actually, there's technically a third one for the third princess cadence, but it's just blueprinted, I think."

"Oh, I gotta hear about this. You brought it up, so now I gotta hear it." I encouraged him, trying to get him to spill the beans.

"Oh, I haven't seen them... yet. But I have heard it's supposed to be a spear or trident."

"A trident is a variant of a spear, but whatever. Anyway, here, lemme finalize this, and ill get your opinion on it." I said quickly, finishing a final drawing of Shining's twin swords. "I shortened the blades to hand-and-a-half swords. So there a bit smaller but are still longswords. It's the preferred version for dual wielding, even though I recommend short swords for that regard." I held up the finalized drawing for him to see.

He looked it over and smiled. "It looks great! I love how you added my cutie mark onto the crossguards!" He stopped for a second, like he realized something. "Wait, I never showed you my cutie mark. How did you...?"

"I saw it when you were carrying me out of the everfree forest," I said, winking as I put the plan with all the rest.

"Oh, yeah." he chuckled.

"So hey, I wanted to ask you a question," Shining said, leaning on the counter.

"Aight, shoot," I responded.

"I was going for some drinks with some of the guys tonight. I was curious if you wanted to join us. Take a night to relax." he asked.

I smiled. "Thanks Shining, but I got over a hundred orders to be done by next week. That and I don't drink the adult stuff."

"Oh, come on, sir! Take a night and enjoy yourself, and get to know the locals! I can handle things from here." I turned to see Romulus come out of the back storeroom with a box of ore. He sat it down next to the forge and began shoving chunks into a crucible within the blazing forge.

"You sure, Romulus? You may be better at more things than me. But blacksmithing is one of the few things I got you beat at." I asked, turning around and leaning my back against the counter. Propping my elbows on it as well for more support.

"Of course, sir, Remember im pretty close behind you in this skill. Plus, I'm a bit faster than you." He mocked me since he finished his line way before I did.

I Looked over my shoulder back to Shining. "What time and place?"

"The hoofdrop tavern down in the lower quarter around six or seven tonight. It's just gonna be a sorta 'guys night' with me and a few of the other guards." He said, smiling.

"Well, I guess I'll go. Wouldn't mind raising my opinion with the locals. I've noticed that the ponies around here aren't exactly used to something like me yet." I told, shining, pushing off the counter, and stretching. "But I still got a few hours to work on this shitload of orders. I'll see you then." I gave a two-finger salute and joined Romulus at the forge.

"Right, we'll see you then!"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I looked up at the sign, which Read, "Hoofdrop Tavern." The letters had lights behind them to make them pop out more at night. The sign also had a large custom carving of a horse's hoof holding a large mug of presumable booze, which spilled over the top and down the side of the mug dripping off the bottom.

"Well, this is the place Shining said to meet at," I said as I felt my hand press against my chest. I felt the cold embrace of the necklace with my squadmate's dog tags on the skin below my shirt. "Maybe I'll finally get that drink you all just begged me to get tonight. Bout damn time huh?" I chuckled as I walked to the door and pushed it open.

The tavern was reasonably tame, considering the sun had just gone down. There was a mare and stallion couple at one of the tables on my left, presumably on a date. There was a rather old-looking stallion past out at the bar counter on the right of me. The stallion bartender with a rather fancy-looking mustache and glasses stopped washing out a glass, waved to me, and welcomed me in. Seemingly unphased that such an odd creature just walked into his bar. I could smell grilled vegetables from the grill window behind him as I saw a few ponies running around in the back kitchen. The whole place was primarily made of wood and smelled like booze. But the more pleasant kind, instead of the rank old drunkard kind.

"Hey, Riley! You made it!" I heard a familiar shout from the back of the bar. I saw Shining standing up at a table, waving at me with three other guards sitting around him. I waved back at him and smiled while walking over to the table and taking a seat. Shining sat back down as well.

One of the ponies I sat next to turned away in disgust, covering his nose. "BLEH, by Celestia, bro, do you even shower?" He said in disgust.

"I do, actually. It's just I only have one change of clothes, so my out-and-about clothes are also the sweating my balls off in the forge clothes." I responded respectfully, understanding his disgust. Another unicorn at the table shot a blast of magic at my shirt, which caused a drastic change in the smell of the air.

"There. Smell muffling spell. It should last you till morning. You gotta get more clothes, bro, Or heck. Maybe you should just ditch them altogether," He said bluntly.

"Thanks, but I don't have fur to cover up my junk, so id rather not flash my sack to the entirety of Canterlot," I responded honestly. And a cluster of 'fairs' came from the other ponies at the table.

Just then, a mare unicorn in a cute dress came over to the table with a notepad. "So, will it be the same as usual, boys?" She asked, and the rest of the ponies around me nodded. Shining turned to me and opened his mouth to tell me something.

"Go ahead and get something. It's on me tonight, anyways."

"I'll take whatever is fruity. Surprise me. But no alcohol, please." I told the waitress, who nodded and turned away.

"aw, cmon bro."

"What a woose."

"Get something Heavy!"

Those were the things I heard when I said 'no alcohol.' I calmed the guys down with my hands and explained myself. "Look, guys, I get it. But I never wanted to try it, nor ever needed to. I saw my dad lose himself in this stuff over a few occasions, so I never wanted it. I don't mind if you guys drink. Just don't force me to, alright?"

They nodded as they understood what I meant. "Yeah, I get that." One of the stallions said. I noticed one of the guards checking out the Mare's flank as she walked away. It was subtle, but I could see it.

"So, what made you take up smithing in the first place?" Another stallion asked.

"Believe it or not, it was just a hobby for a while. My true calling was magic." I responded, leaning back in my chair.

"Magic?! But you don't even have a horn?!" The stallion stated loudly.

"Just because I don't have a horn doesn't mean I can't channel magic. Anyone can do magic. All it takes is the right state of mind." I retorted.

"Right," The stallion chuckled. "Next, your gonna tell me that an earth pony can do the same magic a unicorn can."

"If they received the proper training, they very well could." The resulting groans and scoffs from the ponys at the table beside Shining Armor told me they didn't believe me.

The waitress came back over, floating a tray of drinks beside her. She almost got to our table when a larger stallion at a nearby table stood up and pressed a hoof on one of the floorboards she was stepping on, and it broke! Sending the board into the hollow space underneath with the stallion's hood. While the end the waitress was standing on shot upward, throwing her off her balance, and the drinks went airborne. I reflexively stuck out my hand and threw up a sigil of telekinesis and caught the mugs along with the liquid spilling out of them midair before they hit the floor. The other ponies at the table, actually the whole bar, were staring at me in shock. I paid no mind and carefully flowed the liquid back into their respective cups and set them back down on the waitress's tray once she regained her balance.

I sat back in my chair and looked at the rest of the guys at the table, who were in awe. "Told ya."

The waitress quickly floated our drinks in front of their respective pony and walked away. I grabbed mine and took a sip, and was hit by a powerful taste of mixed fruits. Fruit punch, not a bad choice.

"You know, I never caught the rest of yall's names," I stated.

Shining sat up straight. "Oh yeah, I forgot you all haven't met. Well, This orange pegasus over here is Flash Sentry. My personal protege so to speak. He had a lot of promise, so I took him under my hoof as a personal trainee. And he turned out just fine." Flash looked a little flustered and thanked his mentor for the compliment.

"Over here, this large buck of an Earthpony is Applesnack. A transfer from the Manehatten police force looking to get away from the loud and annoying city life." Shining said, putting a hoof around the large stallion's shoulders.

"That's not what I called it, but your pretty spot on," Applesnack said. His voice was deep and had an assertive tone to it, like a leader.

And last but not least, we have another pegasus buck, Spearhead. Who's been an old friend of mine since our boot camp days.

"Hey... good to meet ya, champ"

"Okay, I gotta ask. What in the name of Celestia was that?" Applesnack finally asked, referring to my magic usage moments prior.

"Magic bitch." I responded, taking another long sip of my drink.

"Well, yeah, But I've never seen anything like that. Not even from the Princesses." He rebutted.

"Well, if I have to be specific, It's elemental magic. Magic channeled through the mind and brought to life in elemental sigils and runes."

"Oh gosh, im not drunk enough for this yet," Spearhead said as he began chugging his drink.

"Eh, don't worry. As much as I would love to give an in-depth explanation of the ins and outs of my magic and its history. You aren't the right crowd for it. You probably just wanna hang out, get really drunk, and have a good time." I said, sighing into a frown as I looked into my drink. "Just like the boys did."

I guess Shining noticed my rather dull expression and had to say something. "You okay, Riley?"

I looked up and responded with as best a smile I could muster with all the memories going around in my head. "Yeah, yeah. Just, this is all well and good. You guys are great. It just reminds me of the nights I did this exact thing with my old detachment back home."

Flash put down his drink and looked at me, shocked. "You were in the military? I didn't expect that."

"yeah, neither did I! But I got forced into a leadership role as my first position, believe it or not. It happened so fast it was like *that*" I said, snapping my finger for emphasis. "our main general, who led our military for the good chunk of over 300 years, turned traitor on us and started a whole mess of trouble that had a lot of people dead. I stepped up and removed him from power. Forcibly." The others were very interested in this story and got the message I was making. "Unfortunately, nobody other than my parents and I knew the ins and outs of the military as he did. And they were both busy with other tasks at that moment. So I took charge and did my royal duties as a prince would for his kingdom."

"Wait, hold on a second. First, you say you can do magic, then you say you were in the military, And NOW you say you're a royal? A prince?" Applesnack said in disbelief.

"Im only a prince in my homeland. Not here. You don't see me waving around a prince title while walking the streets of canterlot. A royal is only as royal as HIS kingdom lets him be in HIS domain. Not the world. Royalty is a very rare privilege, not a right." I corrected. The rest of the group nodded at my wise words.

"well said," Shining said before sipping his drink.

"hey, your captain of the guard. I don't think you can say that." I joked.

"You don't see me on duty, do ya?" He laughed, getting a few chuckles from the rest of us.

"Now, continuing my story. I have taken the role of this for a while, and im doing pretty well. But with the nature of my people's extended lifespan of 500 years and me being barely thirty in years but genetically looking, I was a mid-teen with an underdeveloped brain. My dad was scrambling to find a replacement so I could live a normal childhood. Spoiler alert, he never found someone. Yada yada yada, and Im on a deployment with four other guys leading under me. Well, three guys and a girl, to be exact.

A cluster of "oooooo's" From the other guys clearly saw where they took that statement. "Oh, grow up, guys. She was a lesbian anyway." Spearhead gave an aw but got chuckles from the rest of the guys.

"Well, who were these guys and gal?" Flash asked.

"Well, the first guy's name was Sera. He was our recon, a scout, if you will. He was lethal with long-range weaponry and our airstrike coordinator. He was socially awkward and kind of a basket case, but he had great fuckin cooking. I'll tell ya what."

"Oh, so Flash, when he first joined the guard," Shining said, making everyone but Flash laugh.

"Yup, that checks out!" Spearhead added. Causing more laughter.

Once I got done wiping away my tears. I continue. "Alright, so the girl's name was Sarah. She was loud, bombastic, and buff as shit too. But kinda dumber than a box of rocks when it came to anything but a fight. She was the person you gave a six-pack of beer and a guy's name, and she would come back with the guy's two front teeth. She always had your back."

"Man, she sounds HOT!" Spearhead stated loudly.

"Im gonna be honest, SHE WAS! But unfortunately, she had a girlfriend back home in the royal guard. So she wasn't available. Although the more I think about some of our interactions with her and me. I think she was hinting at a threesome. Im not sure, though. She was pretty dumb, but she was a good friend."

"Dang, Well, who next on the list of companions of old!?" Flash asked.

"That spot belongs to our boy Eren Donatella. The team's combat medic who was the EDGIEST MOTHERFUCKER you could meet. He always had a hood on and gave no shit about blood. He had the steadiest hands while under fire and holding a scalpel and was deadly with a shotgun. Rarely spoke, but when he did, he was pretty cool."

"Sounds pretty interesting. I wanna meet him." Applesnack said aloud.

"Of course, you would," Shining said, hitting Applesnack jokingly in the shoulder.

I sighed as I prepared to introduce the last guy. "Last but not least, we have my best friend Jackson. He was our local comedian. Cracked damn good jokes and always had a smile on his face, which was contagious to others. But also a brilliant guy strategy-wise. He was my second in command and the guy I went to talk to when shit was just too much to handle on my own." I stopped as I felt my eyes get wet again, and my hand pressed to my chest where my necklace was. "The best friend a fucker like me could ask for."

"Well, Clearly something happened to you all. Since you've gotten pretty choked up about it." Shining stated what all the others seemed to agree with. With a heavy heart, I sighed and reached down my shirt, and grabbed hold of the cold metal of the necklace and dog tags. I pulled them out from under my shirt and over my head and set them on the table, necklace and all.

"What are those?" Flash asked.

"Dog tags, mine included. Extremely durable military name tags everyone in the military had back home." I paused for a moment, reliving an unpleasant memory. "They had many uses, but a couple of common ones was to identify a fallen soldier if their face was beyond recognition or for the family to take home when the soldier dies in active duty."

The ponies at the table stared at the tags for a few seconds before realizing what I was implying.

"Oh, oh gosh, Im... im so sorry," Shining said, trying to be empathetic.

"Don't be. It was a long time ago, and it wasn't your fault or anyone's but my own." I replied. Grabbing the tags and putting the necklace back around my neck, and tucking it down my shirt.

"You wanna talk about it?" One of the guys asked while I was looking down at my drink.

"Nope, and I don't think I ever will. But I owe it to them to have that one drink they always pressured me to have when we went out. As a final sendoff to the boys above." I stood up and waved down the bartender. "Get me a shot of Apple whisky! Best one ya got!" I shouted and he gave me a nod.

I sat back down, and the guys gave me a few reassuring "yeahs!" and some hoof claps. It didn't take long for the waitress to come out and put a glass down in front of me, filled with a golden brown liquid. I picked it up and looked at the rest of the guys. "To brothers in arms, past, present, and future!"

"I can drink to that!"

*clink*

Nightmares and Potential

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Every swing of the hammer met the orange hot metal with an audible clang. It was the only noise inside the forge besides the wood popping within its fire. Romulus was out running some errands, leaving me to work on the orders still piled up. I usually would have some music or something playing in the background to make this smithing process less mentally taxing. But Romulus was my speaker system, and he wasn't here. So I had to hum some songs to make do.

I met hammer to steel when distant gunfire rang out shortly after. I stopped and looked around franticly to double-check I had heard what I just heard. Just quiet popping of the fire. I shrugged, thinking it was nothing, and resumed my work. Then It happened louder, And it sounded right outside my door. I set the hammer and metal down, rushed to the door, gripped the hand, and began opening it. When the door erupted in fire and wood shrapnel as I was blown backward thirty feet. Landing face-first in what felt like and tasted like mud.

When I Looked up, I was no longer in any forge. I was instead amidst an all too familiar battlefield. Men and women of my kind rushed past me with advanced rifles at the ready. Giant mechs stopped past, covering fire with their oversized machine guns and shoulder-mounted rockets. At the same time, putting up a large energy shield to protect the more minor soldiers that accompanied it. I heard and saw artillery shells detonated nearby and in the distance in bright flashes of yellow. Tanks drove past and fired their large cannons with loud booms that made my ears ring.

I got to my feet and looked around. I found myself wearing my old combat armor with a rifle in hand. My radio inside my helmet was abuzz with chatter and words I couldn't make out. I looked straight ahead and saw Jackson. His cleanly shaven face and short blonde hair were coated with mud, debris, and blood. He was walking towards me, ever so slowly. It was unnerving.

"Why didn't you save us?" I heard him say as he got close. I tried to speak, but sirens and gunfire drowned out the sound.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU DIE WITH US!" He yelled as my other friends appeared out of a black fog behind him. A detonation that rumbled the Earth rose from the ground in a violent white flash that rapidly approached from miles behind them. I was filled with terror and dread as the flash hit my friends, stripped them of skin, and turned their bones to ash. I saw it happen as if the world slowed to a crawl. I tried to run, but my legs wouldn't move, as I was consumed in the white flash.

"JACKSON!" I screamed as I sat up violently in bed. My head throbbed and pounded, and I instantly felt winded. I grabbed at my aching chest as I couldn't get down any air. I fell to my side, rolled off the bed, and hit the floor with a loud thud. I sat writhing on the ground for what felt like an eternity.

I heard a door slam open, and a blurry figure came into view. It knelt down, and I saw myself Staring at the face of Romulus.

"Sir! Sir! Come on, stay with me!" He said frantically as he slapped my face lightly with his metal hands. "Elements dammit, you're having a Heart attack! Hold on, sir." He rubbed his hands together and slowly pulled them apart to see electricity sparking between them. He planted them onto my chest with great force, and I went stiff as electricity coursed through my body and stretched out as straight as possible. Romulus repeated this twice before I felt air flow into my lungs. I sat up, breathing and sweating hard. Romulus held a hand on my back and sat on the floor with me. I suddenly started just throwing up, a lot. I cupped my mouth as the horrid taste filled my mouth, and the burning that came with it made me wanna throw up even more. Romulus Scooped me up in his arms and rushed me into the bathroom. When I let loose into the toilet, I could only imagine how sad this looked from Romulus's perspective. This great prince of a dead empire just vomiting his intestines out into a toilet.

Once I had 'finished,' I rolled over on the floor and propped myself up against the bathtub's edge. My head hung back as I stared up at the ceiling, feeling miserable.

"I don't get why people drink. This shit sucks." I groaned, my stomach aching.

"Yeah, this is about how it goes for everyone's first night of alcohol," Romulus said, sitting down beside me. His body made a metal clank as it hit the floor. "So, what was your choice of poison tonight, sir?" He asked.

"Mainly whisky, with a few glasses of ale mixed in here and there," I responded.

"hm, haven't seen a king drink whisky since your great grandfather. Your grandfather King Dramos had a fair share of vodka, and Your father was a fan of bourbon." He remarked. Seeming to dive into his memory drive. "heh, I remember carrying Dramos up to the royal chambers one night when he downed a whole bottle of northeastern vodka from the kingdom of Verales. You should have seen him that night, oh boy! The maids spent the whole night cleaning those puke stains out of the carpet!" Romulus started giggling, which was rare for him. I giggled with him as much as I could without vomiting.

"And your father, he was..." I raised a hand to stop him. "Please, don't. It's already bad enough thinking about Dad. Hearing you talk about him would just..." I stopped, already feeling tears swell in my eyes. I wrapped my arms around my knees and curled up into a ball. Placing my forehead on the tops of my knees.

"I understand, sir. Take your time. I'll be here when you need me," He said, putting a hand on my back. I remember the nightmare that woke me from my slumber and shoved it into a deep dark pit in my mind and filled it with concrete. I didn't need that shit bugging me right now. I was already fucked up enough as it was.

"Okay, I think im good now," I said, slowly, getting to my feet as the aching pain in my stomach eased. "I now realize what my dad meant when he said, 'We'll see' when I told everyone I swore off beer. But I went a good while, didn't I?"

"Longer than most kings and queens of your age. Almost every single king before you made that same promise in some way, shape, or form. Most started drinking when they reached twenty. But you lasted till thirty-seven. That's a new record." Romulus stated. Helping me out of the bathroom and into the main forge room. Sitting me down on a chair.

"Wait, you said 'almost.' What did that mean?" I asked, curious.

"Oh, the First King Merlin never drank in his life." He quickly stated as if he knew it by heart. For once, I was dumbfounded.

"Bullshit, no way! He dealt with dragons and the discovery of magic. The great unbounding, the founding of a kingdom, and setting it up to last generations. Hell, He unified the world under a single world treaty!" I remarked.

"All true, all very true. And he was never more stressed in his life during those times. But he never resulted to the bottle to cope with that stress. Instead, he channeled that stress back into his work, which caused him to have quite the temper, im afraid. And also lost quite a lot of friends save for the table of twelve, his close family, such as his wife and son, and me. He was a man of focus and study. His willpower inspired so many from then to today. He was truly the best of humanity."

"Damn, Wish I could channel my stress into my work. I got too fucking much of it," I commented. Picking up a hammer and a piece of paper that had one of the many orders on it. I looked over to see the forge lit, and Romulus was putting together a halberd handle at a desk. So I grabbed some metal and got to work. Shoving some coal into the fire and setting the metal on top of it.

"He did it through song weirdly enough," Romulus said out of nowhere after about fifteen minutes.

"Wha-huh? What did you say?" I asked while poking the coals of the fire with a metal rod.

"Merlin, whenever he worked, used to sing in ancient Elemental when he was stressed. At first, it was harmonic mumbling and humming, but it developed into a soft song, like how you did when you sat in the royal Library and read books on magic. Both his mood and the quality of his work improved when he did. Pretty soon, he did it all the time, save for when he gave one of his rigorous speeches or closed-door meetings with the table of twelve or the riders."

"Huh," I said. "I never took Merlin as the singing type."

"Neither did I. But he did. I assure you, though, he never put on concerts or anything of that sort. Never even sang around his wife, if possible. It was a more personal form of comfort for him." Romulus responded. I heard an audible click from the workbench he was working at as he stood up. And turned to me, holding what seemed to be a completed halberd. "Just finished the handle on order number 47. I'll be sure to mark it down in the catalog. I gotta take over to the grindstone for one final sharpening."

"Were nearly halfway done with orders already?" I asked, surprised, not thinking we could have gotten that much done in two and a half days of work.

"Well, not all the way finished." He said, walking over to the grindstone and pressing his foot against a peddle on the floor as the stone wheel began to spin. "All the metal has been worked into the proper forms, but I have yet to put the padding into the armor or finish all the handles. That's what I will be focusing on for the majority of today."

"Ah, I see. Get the hard part done and do the follow-up work afterward. I gotcha." I stopped for a second as a thought popped into my head as I looked around the room for a clock. "Do you know what time it is? I really need to get a clock in here."

"Just barely six in the morning, sir," Romulus responded, not skipping a beat.

"Really?! Damn, I thought it was way later in the day. Means I got plenty of time to work, I guess." I said, taking the melted steel out of the forge with a pair of forging tongs and setting it on the anvil. I grabbed the hammer hanging off the side of the anvil in one hand, held the tongs steady in the other, and began hammering away at the hot yellow metal. Small sets of sparks shot off the metal ingot each time the hammer made contact.

Romulus and I worked for around three hours in silence. Soon I had the rough outline of a sword from the ingot I had been hammering at. I took the still red hot metal to a tall thin box of mineral-rich oil to do the first of three quenches. I slowly dipped the blade into the oil with a hiss of cooling metal and a small flame that drowned itself just as soon as it started. Once the bubbling settled, I slowly pulled the blade out, the metal emanating steam as I examined it for faults. The metal now had a bright, shining, pure white color as Element Steel typically had when it neared peak purity and primal magic attunement. I took the blade back to the anvil to flatten out the edges so they could be sharpened and more defined.

As I hammered away, my mind drifted into the details of the forging of Element Steel and its forging process. Mainly the fact that you needed to use a hammer or some forging tool that was enchanted with a link to the primal Realm. So what with each swing of a hammer, for example, would imbue the metal with raw magical energy that hadn't been assigned to one of the four Elemental focuses. I was thankful I had a hammer with such an enchantment on my jet that laid in a ruined state outside. I moved a lot of the tools I did have on it into the stall's back storage room. Espisccaly the guns and such in some of the armory lockers and the twelve Unbound Arcanums as well. I glanced up at a nearby bookcase with all twelve magically glowing books sitting side by side on one of the shelves. The spines of the books stick out over the lip of the shelf by several inches due to their massive size.

My train of thought was interrupted by a knock at the door. Romulus waved me down and began walking over to the door. Telling me that he would get it. Setting the halberd blade down on a table as he walked over. I continued hammering but kept an eye on him at the door out of curiosity.

"Ah, good morning, miss Twilight!" Romulus said with his butler-like charm and a slight bow. "What can I do for you this day?" I was even more curious now. Twilight was one of the six ponies I met during my first interaction with Celestia that piqued my interest. Mainly because of how highly Celestia spoke of her academically and the fact she was Shining armors sister. And I was rather quite fond of him.

"Oh, I wanted to see if Riley was available. Shining wrote me last night asking if I could take him to Rarity for some new clothes. From what he said, Riley needs a whole new wardrobe, and I was happy to oblige." I heard Twilight say from the other side of the doorway. From my angle, I couldn't see her. Did Shining Armor really call in a favor with his sister to get me new clothes? I mean, that's nice of him, but I haven't known him that long to earn that sort of kindness or respect. Or maybe he just took some pity on me from last night after telling him and his buddies that I lost my old squad.

"Oh well, isn't that thoughtful," Romulus said as he turned his head to look at me and then back to Twilight. "I'll go fetch him right now. Please, come in if you'd like." He turned and began walking over to me. It just then clicked that id actually get pulled away from my work AGAIN at Romulus's encouragement.

"No. We're not doing this again. Last night was enough out and about for me." I said, centering my focus on my work.

"Sir, we both know you need more than one set of clothes if you plan to live here for the foreseeable future. Just go and see what it will cost and go from there. Who knows, Twilight might be able to get you a discount since she and Rarity are good friends." He said, putting his metal hand on my shoulder.

"Pft, how do you know that they're good friends? For all you know, it's just Twilight's fashion designer or something." I scoffed.

"Because Rarity was the white unicorn with the purple main back at your first meeting with the Princesses. I Beleive they all introduced themselves as very good friends." He retorted.

I remember the unicorn from memory and agree with Romulus in that they were introduced that way. But then I also remembered that Romulus wasn't there for that meeting and was still in the Everfree forest. I sat the hammer down across the blade on the anvil and turned to face Romulus. "How do you know about that? You weren't even there!" I demanded.

Romulus chuckled and shook his head. "Did you forget that your wrist-mounted device dormantly records your surroundings since it was never taken off of its wartime protocols?" He said, still chuckling slightly.

I immediately opened my wristpad and started checking its settings and protocols. Sure enough, it was still on the wartime protocols and had several terabytes of recordings and simulations from over the last eight to nine months.

"I had remotely accessed it while you were sleeping to get caught up on events that had happened while I was 'asleep.'" Romulus said as I turned off the protocols and such.

"Well, We still have a lot of work to do here. We only have a few days to get all of these orders done and ready to present by Sunday. Yet, you still keep sending me out to go on random and rather pointless errands for my mental health, even though I keep telling you that im FINE." I asserted, letting out some of my pent frustration.

"Might I inform you that the constant reuse of dirty clothes leads to severe illness and poor bodily hygiene? I think the last thing we need is for you to be sick and not be able to do ANY work and have to have me take care of you sick in bed." Romulus said smugly and logically

"Fuck, you gotta point," I admitted. I hate it when he appeals to my logical side. "well, what do you want me to wear? My current clothes are filthy and smell like a Sorgons ass flap."

"I could cast a smell-muffling spell." I heard Twilight say. I turned my head to see her head peaking in through the doorway with a hoof covering her nose. "Sorry, I would come in, but it smells horrible here. No offense." her voice sounded funky with her nose covered.

I sighed loudly, moved towards the door, and slipped on my armored combat boots since they were my only pair of shoes. Twilight backed out of the doorway to let me walk through, but then I turned back to Romulus. "Finish up the halberd and the edge of that sword. Then try and clean his place up so it doesn't smell like hot garbage. Capeesh?"

Romulus gave me a salute. "10-4, sir!"

Halfway through the door, I stepped back into the machine's view. "Drop the military speak, Im fucking over it." I walked out and closed the door behind me. Twilight wasted no time, and a ball of magic erupted from her horn and hit my clothes. I felt a rankness in the air lift as my lungs filled with air that didn't smell like shit.

"Yeesh, these really do smell bad. I can't believe I went nose blind to that nastiness," I said, pinching my shirt to look at it.

"Well, thankfully, we're gonna go see if Rarity can make you some fresh clothes," Twilight said as she finally uncovered her nose and began walking away. I noticed that she was wearing saddlebags for some unknown purpose. I followed next to her as we walked through Canterlot.

"If you don't mind me asking, What are those things you put on your... um... the things you walk on?" She asked, looking down at my feet.

"You mean my feet?" I asked for clarification. Gesturing towards my feet.

"Yes, So that's what they're called." She said as a notebook floated beside her and she wrote something down with a pen.

I was confused for a second and realized that Ponys didn't really wear shoes, at least not ones like mine. "Well, these are boots, a tougher form of footwear to protect my feet since they are rather sensitive and can puncture easily."

"Interesting. I thought for sure that such walking extremities would be tough enough not to need such protective footwear, as you call it." I could tell at this point she was prodding for information about human anatomy. She seemed rather fascinated about me and my biology. So I decided to humor her and kept this going for a bit. I did get an odd satisfaction from teaching others things I know a lot about and have a passion for. Unfortunately, Biology and things to do with living beings was my last versed subject. But I knew what evolution was

"Well, my primal ancestors would undoubtedly have tougher feet. Since they didn't have shoes back then since they weren't invented. But once they were, the genes that made our feet so tough weren't needed so-"

"They were slowly removed throughout generations due to evolution?" Twilight said, finishing my sentence.

"Correct."

"That's a similar trend with certain racing ponies on rare occasions. Although most times, it toughens their hooves. The rare few have degradation in their hooves when they don't remove their horseshoes enough."

"I suppose that could happen, but such degradation that would be THAT noticeable would have to be caused if the ponies in question were wearing horseshoes all the time and didn't even change them out for fresh ones." I thought aloud. Twilight agreeing with me. She continued to prod me with a few more questions about humans.

"You are very curious about me. May I ask why?" I asked after we had finished another discussion.

"Oh, sorry. Was I bugging you? My apologies. I'll stop if you want me to." She asked sincerely.

"No, it's not annoying at all. I'm curious as to why you've taken such an interest in me suddenly." I clarified.

"Well, honestly, I've just been itching to learn more about you and your people. I've lost sleep just thinking about it. We thought we had all our views on the world and we were learning about other cultures and such. But then, out of nowhere, you show up and start almost preaching these ideals about the Elementals and other dimensions with whole different races and cultures. And you use magic runes and symbols that I've never seen before to do some rather creative magic. You cannot admit that it sounds completely fascinating." she explained.

"Huh, I never thought about it like that. Recently I just thought you all thought I was batshit crazy. Celestia seemed rather interested in what I had to say when I talked to her about my culture. But I felt like she thought I was spewing utter bullshit." I stated. "But it is somewhat reassuring that someone takes some interest in my beliefs in a place where I feel alien." I felt relieved after saying that.

"Well, im glad I could offer some comfort to you in some way, even if unintentionally. That feeling of being alien to your surroundings I can relate to, if only somewhat. When I first arrived in ponyville. I had a bit of culture shock myself as I spent most of my filly and teenage life in canterlot studying in Celestia's school for gifted unicorns as Celestias's protégé. Not to mention I wasn't the most social pony if you couldn't tell." She explained.

"No, hey, I get it. I had good relations with most adults in the royal castle growing up but had like two friends my age during those years. I had a knack for becoming friends with people that were older than me. But on top of that, I spent most of my time in the Compendium of Merlin."

"What's that?" She asked curiously.

"It was essentially the Royal library of my kingdom. But it was one of a kind. It was the combined Knowledge of Merlin's collective Knowledge into one infinite Library that existed in a place between reality and the primal Realm. Its size was infinite to compensate for future generations' discoveries and books they would write. Legends and old texts say that the Library was created upon Merlin's death as he used magic to transform his collective wisdom and Knowledge into a library that would expand itself infinitely." I explained excitedly. Remembering the countless hours and days I spent in the Library trying to get a jump on my magical studies before I became unbound.

"Wow! That sounds Incredible!" Twilight shared my excitement.

"It was! It really was! The Compendium of Merlin housed books and Knowledge of the twelve combined kingdoms of the Table of Twelve. It was structured like a giant hollow cylinder stretching infinitely upward. So far, upward, you couldn't see the top. And since it was between realms. It took no space in the royal castle except the entrance doorway. Each floor had been dedicated to a specific topic, subject, or genre. You name it! Each floor had its own focus and was filled to the brim with an infinite amount of books. Even so, the Compendium didn't have a set-in-stone organization system. It would always cater to a person's personal taste as it wasn't bound to the laws of reality. You only have to go to a catalog pedestal and say or write what you were looking for, and a magical platform will take you there instantly! It was Merlin's Greatest personal achievement! A lifelong goal filled with his passing, it has an irony to it that moves your mind in ways that make you feel a certain way that nothing else could!" The passion, in my words, could not be understated.

Twilight was in awe and looking like a toddler, ready to pounce on a bag of candy. "THIS IS INCREDIBLE! I have so many questions! So would the Compendium present itself to each individual differently? And how would that work if so? Would you see others phasing through walls and floors at random?" Twilight giddily asked.

"Well, the ground floor stayed the same all the time since it was the common room. It had food, drinks, tables, and a hub of catalogs to take people wherever they needed or bring books to an individual if the lifts were busy. But if you stood on the ground floor and looked up. It would be like looking at the inside of a constantly shifting tower that was continually changing shape yet held a cylindrical shape going upward. Pillars and walls were moving in ways reality couldn't explain. It was hypnotizing. I got caught by it multiple times and eventually passed out because of it. One day I gotta show it to y-"

I stopped myself before I promised something I couldn't keep. I was so excited about something I loved so much that I forgot that it was long gone. I felt a sense of sadness and dread envelop me. Twilight could see the shift on my face. But I felt my sadness shift to raw anger. I began to walk faster and faster. My breath increased in ferocity, with each breath feeling like a growling lion in my chest. I got a few odd looks from ponies I walked past, but I couldn't give less of a shit. Twilight had to pick up the pace to a slow trot to keep up with me. It was only then realized she had been talking to me the whole time I was having my inner fit of rage.

"What's Wrong?! Did I say something?! Im sorry if I upset you. I-" I put my hand over her mouth. Holding back my tongue to not tell her to shut the fuck up. I took deep breaths to try and calm myself.

"No, it's not you. Just gimme a minute." I managed to say in between breaths. We walked around a corner I found myself staring at a train station.

"Um, why are we at a train station?" I asked, my anger suppressing itself in the back of my mind for the moment in place of confusion.

"Oh, Rarity's boutique is in ponyville. So we have to take the train back to Ponyvile to meet up with her." Twilight responded nervously.

"I thought she was here in Canterlot! I have too much work to do to go down to ponyville just to get new clothes!" I said stated loudly. I was just about ready to turn around and head home before Twilight stopped me.

"Look, I know you are a busy individual, but taking care of yourself is more important than work. I had my friends there to help teach me that a long time ago. Plus, Rarity is the best at what she does. She just takes a much more personal approach to her customers, which makes her quality just better than the alternatives. Just come and give it a chance. I promise you won't regret it." Twilight said passionately. I could see in her eyes that she meant every word and wasn't just pulling my leg, despite how annoying it seemed to me. Why did it bug me so much to listen to other people's advice? First, it was Romulus, then it was Shining Armor, And now It was Twilight. It's like I only trust myself, and even that was a stretch. What the fuck is wrong with me?

"Okay, fine, just show me the way."

Soon after, I was sitting across from Twilight on a train bound for Ponyville. She had paid for my ticket, which bugged me immensely, even though I was as broke as can be. I hated the feeling of not being able to pay my own way. Another reason I want to ensure I get all my blacksmithing work done. So I could get paid, but that was a few days off still. At least, that's what I kept trying to tell myself so I could commit to this trip.

At this point, my anger had subsided to a low bubble in my chest. So I felt obligated to speak again since Twilight still wanted to talk despite her best efforts to contain herself. She kept fidgeting with her hooves and looking around the train car, trying to keep herself occupied. I did the same thing when my Dad tried to put me in school but ended up homeschooling me via Romulus instead.

"Hey, Sorry about earlier. I couldn't say what I wanted to since I can't really show The Compendium of Merlin." I said, looking up at Twilight.

"Not until you find a way back home?" She responded. I almost immediately said I didn't want to. But quickly swallowed those words when I recognized how innocent Twilight looked. That caused a cascade that made me realize how innocent this world was. Nobody knew about my people's war and our end except for Romulus, and I made him bind himself by his code not to tell anyone about it, no matter what. And I would like to keep things that way. I don't wanna taint this place's innocence. Plus, telling a whole kingdom, 'Hey, I was a general in a war and slaughtered thousands of my own kind,' wouldn't go over well.

"Yeah, let's go with that," I responded. "But until I get some money to get the resources and equipment necessary to figure out the variables that caused me to cross dimensions in the first place. That goal is impossible."

"Well, I've studied several books about other realms and planes of reality. Im sure I could provide some input on the matter." She assured. I couldn't help but laugh. She looked at me confused and asked me what was so funny.

"Realms and dimensions are two VERY different things back home. Realms break off from our Plane but aren't separate dimensions. But rather small micro worlds that hold a lot of power. And it's not called a plane of reality. It's called the Plane of existence, and there's only one which all of us and all that is physical exist upon. But that's only one side of the coin. The other side is the Primal Plane, but we call it the Primal Realm since it lays over all of reality. It is the complete opposite of our Plane. A Plane of pure potential energy and infinite resources that the Elementals can shape into whatever they want. All everything made into a physical entity ends up in our Plane. Which, at its most foundational levels, are the four Primal elements or "ingredients" according to the elementals. The Sky, the Sea, the Earth, and the fire that binds it all. We call it the Quadrinty." I held up my hand and conjured the Elements runes that made up the Quadrinty. The four runes appeared in the air above my open palm. Magical energy lines Intricately linked all as they formed a triangle in the air.

The symbol for the Sky sat at the top. Visible air currents swirled around the rune, and tiny bolts of lightning flickered with them. The bottom left point held the rune for Earth. The lines that defined it were covered in dirt and stone, with small plants growing from it. The bottom right side had the rune for water. The rune was enveloped in a bubble of water that shifted and changed and sometimes cascaded into a wave, like those on the beach. And at the center of the triangle was the rune for fire. Its rune was ablaze with a burning orange fire. Tendrils sprouted from it and reached outward to the three other runes and wrapped around them once. And thus, the Quadtrinity was complete.

Twilight was in awe, frantically writing in her notebook as she looked at the floating masterpiece.

"This is as pure as one could get the four primal energy sources without gazing upon an Elemental itself. These runes also signify my connection to those energies by being unbound from reality because I couldn't summon these runes if I wasn't unbound." I explained.

"Unbound? What does that mean?" Twilight asked, eagerly anticipating my answer. I felt a spark of joy ignite within me. I felt overjoyed that someone seemed so interested in something I loved and strived to master. I loved talking about magic and runes so much since it was such a vast and still developing field, even after 5,000 years. I decided I would explain it how my father explained it to me right before he granted me the gift of being unbound. I closed my hand and rested it on my leg as I leaned forward into a more serious sitting stance. The runes sat still, floating in the air. I felt a wide grin spread across my face.

"Everyone's imagination is great and grand in their own regard. But it can only express itself so much through your hands. It's as if your mind can fly but is chained to reality. Your body can do very little compared to your mind, which does so much. Being unbound severs that chain to reality and lets your imagination tap into the creative resources of the Primal Realm directly. Doing this allows your mind to manifest whatever you imagine into reality from the potential infinity of the Primal Realm. And the power of your mind becomes infinite WITH practice and training. As your mind is still in the vessel of your body, which still has its limitations. You will perceive Elemental energy within all of reality and detect things others cannot. And you will be able to form pacts with the Elements to give your mind an incredible boost in power IF you pass their tests. You could move mountains, split the seas, ride the lightning of a hurricane, and tame the wrath of a volcano, all with time. This is the power of the Unbound."

We went back and forth, talking for the rest of the train ride. When the train stopped at the ponyville station, we stepped off. I felt me and her had a deeper connection. Not only that, I saw the potential for a great mage within her. Albeit, she was already impressed with her own magic. But to think, if she was Unbound and learned to use Elemental magic, that could be something worth living to see. But I feel giving out such a very close but also very powerful magic that could be abused to a race I haven't seen the full extent of would be a very unwise decision.

"Hey, you know, I could do more than tell you what my people do. I could teach you IF you could prove yourself." I said to her as we left the station. Walking side by side into ponyville.

She turned her head to me with a big smile, then I think she recognized the second half of what I said and got confused. "What do you mean, 'Prove yourself?'" She asked.

"Well, you gotta understand how im thinking. On one end, this magic is very powerful, and if put into irresponsible hands, or in your case, hooves. It could be used very easily used to hurt others. And I could never live that down. So I need to understand more about the ponies here if im certain I wanna start handing out primal magic." I started.

Twilight pondered that for a moment and then nodded her head. "Yeah, okay, I see where you're coming from."

"BUT, at the same time. I've never been so eager to teach someone something. Especially something I've spent my whole life studying and practicing. This is an opportunity I want to take advantage of. So I have an idea for you to prove yourself while I figure out how the people of the world work." I added. At this point, we were just arriving at what seemed like the town square. There was a large fountain with a pony statue sitting atop it, spewing water out of its mouth. Classy.

"Okay then! What do you got for me teach?" Twilight joked, causing a shiver of cringe to go down my back and making a groan of cringe escape from my mouth.

"Please, just please, call me by my name still. As for the task, Im in need of four items to regain contact with the Elementals via a unique brew that allows me to see into the Primal Realm." I told her. Remembering how Celestia said she would've sent for that rainbow liquid, I asked for. And had yet to receive it.

"Okay, what would you need? Im sure that I could find the ingredients fairly easily. And if not, I have a friend who lives in the everfree forest that specializes in potions." She responded confidently.

I gave a soft chuckle. "We'll see about that. As there are only four of these Items in the world at a time, one for each Elemental aspect. So they are exceptionally rare. I already have an idea of where one of the hard ones could be, but considering your kind and the dragons aren't on good terms. That will be one for me to tackle alone."

"You still haven't told me exactly what Im looking for." She pointed out.

"Well, I'm not sure either, as it's different for each world. But each of the primal Elements has an item that essentially is raw primal energy that exists in our Plane of existence. I know what the ones of my world were since I saw very detailed descriptions in books in my world and after the great unbinding. We learned out to make them. You could use my worlds items as a basepoint. But for all I know, it could be drastically different."

"Well, tell me, and I can get started! I already have a surplus of Knowledge on magical and nonmagical herbs and ingredients." She demanded excitedly.

"Okay, okay, sheesh. Well, the Earth one was found in the center of the largest mountain in my world. It was a glowing white gemstone that sparkled a rainbow of colors called the 'Earth's heart.' The Sky one was the most tricky. It was called liquid lightning, found during a very intense lightning storm. I have to double-check my Unbound Arcanum for how exactly Merlin got a hold of it the first time. But it was something to do with a super-conductive liquid, a jar, and a cube of iron. Water was probably the easiest guess, But it was a unique pearl at the bottom of the ocean inside a one-of-a-kind clam. You would crack the pearl open like an egg, and a rainbow, oily liquid would emerge. But deep-sea pressure was a unique challenge. Lastly, was the Molten Flame found inside a very active volcano." I explained.

Twilight looked very concerned, staring ahead of her. I could tell she thought she may have bit off more than she could chew.

"Do not tell me you thought finding the four Primal ingredients to make contact with pretty much the GODS would be a walk in the park?" I asked. Leaning in front of her to get in her view.

"Well, kinda..." She said, drooping her head.

"Hmm, I thought, for one who was talking about how devoted to her studies she was just a little while ago. She would've tackled such a challenge head-on. I guess ill have to find someone else..."

She jumped in front of me with a look of fierce determination. "Hey! I can handle it! I've faced Nightmare Moon with friends at my side. Im sure I could find a few ingredients for a potion." She stated adamantly.

"I hope so since your gonna learn about what each of the Elements represents on Monday," I said, walking past her. She quickly came up beside me.

"Monday?" She asked, making sure.

"Yes, That's after my completion date for all my blacksmithing orders. So I will be free to teach, at the very least, what each of the Elements represents. And it should narrow down where these Elemental ingredients could be if you understand what each element represents." I explained. Turning the corner onto another street to see a very different and larger-looking building. Lots of windows and a picture of a pony in some sort of dress above the door. And the whole place looked just way fancier than any of the others I'd seen.

"Okay, I'll be there! Oh, and look, we're here! The Carousel Boutique!

Normality is weird

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Twilight greeted Rarity with a hug when she opened the door. Her purple mane was wrapped in a towel like she had just gotten out of the shower. I remembered my mom and sister doing the same thing with their hair after a shower.

"Twilight, dear! It's always good to see you!" Rarity said as she hugged Twilight.

I leaned against the wall beside the doorway, watching the two ponies interact. I never realized until I watched these two hug how flexible these ponies' arms were. They turned and rotated just like a human arm. Very interesting, to say the least. I then had an out-of-nowhere, very dark thought. I read a book on horses about the old days before Merlin on how horses had to be put down when they suffered a leg injury since they rarely healed adequately. Then, for some reason, I applied it to the ponies in front of me. The thought of it made me hate myself and caused my face to scrunch up in disgust and forced me to look away from them for a moment to burn those thoughts in a raging fire. The ponies continued the conversation while I purged that horrid thought from my mind. While also hating myself.

I turned my face back just in time to see Twilight gesturing to me with a hoof. "Of course, you must Remember Rileus from our meeting with the princesses, right Rarity?" she said, looking at Rarity and then back to me.

"Why, of course, darling! How could I forget such a fascinating creature? A pleasure to meet you again, young prince!" Rarity stuck out a hoof and gave me a wink. I cringed at the 'prince' remark. I see she never forgot I was royalty.

"The pleasure is all mine, Miss Rarity," I said, picking up on her high-brow demeanor. "But please, do call me Riley. And no more of that prince nonsense. I'm nothing but a feeble peasant in the presence of one as beautiful as yourself." I finished, taking a bow and kissing her hoof. I remembered such a greeting from when I first met the Elven royal family from the Forest Kingdom of Nakasha. Kissing hands was their most fond way of greeting other royals and certain higher-ups in the royal tiers, or a very personal greeting between two individuals. Plus, they all had a fancy tone of speech, like Rarity. I figured the same greeting would work here just as well. And I was right.

Rarity was taken aback at my sudden charming demeanor. I could see her blushing when I looked up at her face. "Oh my! What a gentle stallion! Er- I mean- gentle- something? Im sorry, I don't know what to say. It's been some time since I was greeted in such a manner. Not to mention, it's not quite the correct setting for such a greeting."

"My Apologies," I started sounding apologetic, returning to my upright posture. "You seemed to give off a different energy compared to most others. As such, I saw fit to grant you a much more personal greeting, one which is common within the elven Kingdom of Nakasha between royals and those of high stature."

"No, no, darling. You're quite alright. I was just startled, that is all. I really do appreciate it." Rarity seemed to regain control of herself after taking a deep breath inward. Twilight cleared her throat, reminding Rarity that she was still here and catching her attention as Twilight gestured toward the building. "Oh! Of course! How rude of me to keep my friends waiting on the doorstep! Do come in!" Rarity stated, trotting back inside.

Twilight came up beside me and gave me the look of "Really?" to which I responded.

"Don't worry. I was cringing really hard that whole time. That was just as bad for me to do as it was for you to watch, if not worse."

Twilight rolled her eyes and walked inside, and I followed behind her. Inside the boutique were all sorts of pony-like mannequins covered in dresses or suits made for ponies. Some coat racks held more jackets and thicker garments that had yet to be paired with their matching set. All sorts of display stages held more mannequins in all kinds of poses to show off their unique fashion statements. There was a smaller podium surrounded by three mirrors. I assumed it was a place where someone would stand to see if an outfit looked good on them. Like shoe stores back home that had mirrors at foot level to see how they looked on your feet.

There were a few more mirrors in the back towards a staircase that swung upward. The mirrors hung above a desk that had stools tucked underneath it. I presumed that those were for hair styling, considering across from them were some of those weird hair-drying bubbles that go over someone's head after they get something done to their hair. I remember watching my mother and sister use similar devices back home in Romulios whenever they went to a hair salon. I remember peeking my head in when I ran amuck in the streets when I was much younger and screaming, thinking my mom and sisters' brains were being sucked out of their heads by these weird bubble-like devices. I couldn't help but smile at the memory.

I turned my head and saw Rarity sitting on a padded seat in front of another desk and mirror to my right. The towel that was once on her head was now on the end of the desk, folded neatly, and was deeply brushing her hair. Slightly wincing with each brush as it sounded like she was ripping her hair with each brush since it looked so tangled. She was holding out her hair straight with her magic to try and make the job easier, but I could tell it was still hard and slightly painful. I knew my sister did the same thing and struggled as well with her long brown hair, especially in the early morning when bedhead was a real nightmare. I liked to keep my hair short, so I didn't deal with any of THAT bullshit, among other reasons.

I stopped for a second, realizing just how much this world reminded me of my family and my home. I told myself I'd leave my past and, in turn, my family there as well. It brought too much pain and sadness that needed to be replaced with focus and drive. I need to start fresh to get comfortable enough to not worry about whether or not I will eat tomorrow. Then I could worry about whatever issues I had lying around in my head. I was trying to be a new man. I was trying to be a better man like my father asked me before he sent me off in the same aircraft that sat outside my would-be home in a ruined state. But why did I keep being reminded of them when I was trying to move forward? It was like my own mind was fighting to drag me back to a state where I was lying on the ground crying in the back of the plane, wishing to join my family in the afterlife. Almost taking a gun to my head and repainting the wall with my own blood.

I felt my head pound into a headache. Like my mind was agreeing violently with my own thoughts. I shook my head, trying to shake off the pain but only causing it to grow worse and more violent. I held a hand to my head, jumped onto one of the nearby stages with a few mannequins atop it, and sat down on the edge, letting my legs dangle. Twilight noticed I was in obvious discomfort and trotted over to check on me.

"It's just a headache," I reassured. "Probably from the altitude change going from Canterlot to here. It happened a lot back home when I returned from the Dwarven Mountain Kingdom of Kursegroff back in my homeland. Don't worry; im sure it will pass soon."

She nodded, accepting what I said as she turned to face Rarity, who had gotten up from her seat and was trotting over, Several curls in her purple mane.

"So, dear Twilight, What can I do for you this evening?" Rarity asked, looking at her friend with dazzling eyes.

"Well, Rarity, We had originally come to get Riley some fresh clothes, so he's not wearing the same set every day. I told him about your work as a fashion designer, and he came with me to see for himself." Twilight Explained.

Rarity seemed touched or just downright shocked. She gasped and held a hoof to her chest. "You, a royal, came to ME for new clothes instead of all the designers in Canterlot? Im so honored."

"Well, Miss Rarity." I began, "Your work exceeds my expectations. The designs here on this stage alone, I will admit, are very impressive. Nothing like the ones back home. Then again, fashion was never my forte."

"But these aren't even my best works!" She countered, seeming to doubt her own abilities.

"All the more reason Im glad Twilight convinced me to come down from Canterlot. I would be honored if you would make me some clothing as your skill is the best I've seen in Equestria if these dresses and suits are anything to go by." At this point, I was just trying to be flattering. I always despised talking like this. It was too formal for me. But Mom always said, "if you plan to greet a royal, you must talk like a royal." Always a load of bullshit.

"Well, I must say I am incredibly flattered you would come all the way from Canterlot to seek me for fashion purposes. I suppose we could get you measured, and we could go from there?" Rarity said, smiling at Twilight and then looking back at me, floating a long single strip of measuring tape beside her.

"Sounds good. Actually, I think I have my Military Armor measurements saved on my wristband." I responded, flipping open my wrist pad to do a quick search through my personal data. And sure enough, there they were.

"Here we go. I'll jot this down quickly. Do you have any paper and pencil I could borrow?" I asked after fumbling around in my pockets.

"I do!" Twilight jumped in. Floating a small notebook with a feather sticking out of her mane.

"Huh?" I questioned, quite confused. "Why do you keep that there?"

"It's actually quite common to keep things in your mane. We have such big hair. It's just convenient storage without the need for saddlebags." Twilight responded, handing me the notebook.

"It's true!" Rarity chimed in. "I myself keep a spool of thread with a needle in mine. In case I need a quick patch for a garment of any sort. You should see all the stuff Pinkie has in her mane!" I heard Twilight giggle at Rairty's remark.

"Okay then," I said, trying not to linger on the thoughts popping into my head and moving on.

I opened the notebook and tore out a page from the seam so it wouldn't look bad. It was then I realized that the feather was actually a quill! By the Elements, ponies still use quills? Jeez.

My next words mimicked my thoughts. "Gosh, you guys still use Quills? I haven't used one of these things in YEARS. Probably since I had to use them in school." I said, holding the Quill, looking at it, and flipping it around in my fingers. Trying to remember how to use it.

"Oh, it's really easy here. Let me show you!" Twilight said, walking next to me.

"No, hang on. I got it." I said, waving her off. "Wasn't there a specific way you had to hold it so it wrote properly? Gosh, my memory sucks."

After fumbling with it for a few minutes, I got my measurements written down and handed them to Rarity. She read them for a few moments and cocke her head in confusion. "Well, I can't say I recognize your measurement style. Could I have some clarification?" She asked.

"Of course! My Apologies. I forgot just how different this interaction would be since, you know. Two different species and all that." I said and walked over next to Rarity, so we were both now looking at the sheet of paper.

"Let's start with this one." She started pointing a hoof to my pants measurements. "What does 32x36 pants size mean?"

Another few minutes passed as I explained the basics of human clothing measurements, along with the difference between long sleeves and short sleeves and pants vs. shorts. Thankfully, Rarity's already superb knowledge of fashion let her fill the gaps I didn't know quickly.

"Okay, I can figure things out for here. Thank you, Riley. Now comes material preference. What would you want these garments to be made from?" Rarity asked, writing down notes from the previous discussion. She also grabbed a pair of red glasses with pink-hued lenses. She said it helped her fashion sense. Whatever that means. But Elements dammit, now I really wished I paid attention to Mom. I didn't really know what my clothes were made out of besides my armor. That clearly wouldn't help here. I stood there, mouth agape. Trying to figure out what sweatpants were made out of that made them so comfy.

"Uhhhhh. I can't remember for the life of me what my old clothes were made of. I just remember the sweatpants were soft and kept in heat, and the shirts never rubbed my skin raw and felt like silk, But I know it wasn't silk. The shirts also did a good job of keeping in heat as well. Do you have any idea what im talking about?" I asked.

Rarity rubbed the underside of her chin in thought. She levitated a notebook out of a cabinet and began flipping through it with her magic. "Hm, felt like silk but was not silk and didn't irritate the skin along with thermal insulation..."

I perked up at the word Thermal. "YES, THAT."

Confused, she looked at me over her notebook while raising an Eyebrow. "Pardon?"

"That's what the shirts were called! Thermals! Very comfy and sold during winter as a 'base layer' alongside a heavy coat. Plus, you could wear them all year round since they looked good and kept a stable temperature no matter how hot it was." I stated excitedly, Thankful I remembered something that wasn't war-related.

"I thought you didn't know fashion?" She said, looking back down at the notebook and back to me with a smirk.

"I don't. I know armor." I corrected. "Thermals were standard issue layering for all suits or armor types. Its non-skin irritating Cotton Polyester fiber and temperature regulation made it a great fit for active duty-" I stopped, realizing I just casually remembered the clothing material off the top of my head. My facial expression mimicked my thoughts of shock and confusion.

Rarity put a feather in the book, closed it smiling, and tossed it to me. "Armorworking is just fashion with more metal, darling. You know fashion, just a different version of it," she said While getting up and opening a large closet filled with different rolls of fabric and began sifting through them. Setting the ones she didn't need outside the closet in an organized fashion.

I opened the notebook to the bookmarked page and found that the notebook was filled with different combinations of materials and weaves for said materials. All seemingly hand-written by Rarity herself. I looked at where the feather tip was pointing. I saw the exact same material I just mentioned, 'Cotton Polyester fiber,' but followed by a hexweave pattern. It seemed oddly familiar.

"Here." I heard Rarity say as she trotted back over with a roll of shiny light blue fabric in her magic beside her. "Feel this and tell me what you think?" She added as she floated the fabric in front of me and pulled a small bit of it out so I could properly feel it. I reached out my hand and felt the fabric, and I was shocked as it felt EXACTLY like a Thermal! It felt better, softer than I remembered, and a little stretchy.

"This is perfect! It feels just like I remembered! You sure know your stuff, Rarity!" I complimented her as she rolled up the cloth and set it down on the table with her sewing machine.

"You too kind, darling. But you know your materials well, even if you don't admit you know fashion. Most ponies call this 'The shiny warm stuff.'"

I gave a small chuckle, "I mean, they're not wrong, but still."

Rarity sat down across from me once more and took the book back with her magic. "Now that we have the top half figured out, now we must figure out the bottom half. Now, I am working a bit outside my normal field of expertise, considering im not working on a pony but a more... robust Individual. Not to mention one that stands on two legs."

"I get it, don't worry. Im surprised you aren't as stuck as I thought you'd be trying to figure out the ins and outs of what I would wear. Considering how you and I are so drastically different. You with pony limbs and me with my HuMaN LiMBs!" I said comedically, turning my arms to make myself look stupid. Causing both Rarity and Twilight to laugh. It was then I realized Twilight had been somewhat left out this whole time. But when I gazed over at her. She never even noticed me looking at her from whatever serious note-taking she did in her notebook. Occasionally, looking up at me and then back into the notebook.

"Believe me, darling, you're not like most customers. The ones I get stuck on order and pay for a very specific gown or suit despite my efforts to go with something more practical or just the better option. And end up disliking the product and either end up changing their minds or go with my original proposal. Or change the design three different times, trying to make it work only to settle for what I originally suggested." She said after she finished chuckling.

"Well, when it comes to something im not particularly familiar with, I generally let the expert do the essential things to make sure whatever it is doesn't fall apart. It's just common sense! Why would I, a person with no experience in this topic, tell YOU what should and should not be done."

"I like that about you, mister Rileus, you actually listen. Well, moving back on track. Considering your choice of fabric that I would normally use as an inner layer for my winter coats. I believe I have a choice of fabric for these so-called 'Sweatpants' you described earlier. It's processed, fluffier cotton that feels similar to soft fur." She explained.

"That sounds perfect! I am on board with your choice." I said.

"Hold on, Mister Rileus. Let's have you feel the fabric first before you say yes to anything," she said, floating out a roll of white and relatively fluffy materially. She unrolled it slightly, like with the last fabric, and It felt heavenly, like a Huskfroths fur from my homeland. I also noticed the underside was mostly flat, with the side I was feeling being more poofy and fluffy.

"I like it! It would feel great for a pair of pants, or shorts, for that matter." I said as she rolled up the fabric once more and set it next to the other roll on the table.

"Im glad you approve. If that is everything, I can get you wrung up for an estimated price. Depending on how many changes of clothes you wish to order." She responded, closing up her book and setting it back on the shelf nearby with her magic.

"Actually, there is one more thing I need, and it is a need. But it's a bit embarrassing to discuss, to be honest." I said, moving onto the topic of underwear.

"Oh, Im sure it's not that bad, darling. Im sure I've heard worse." She responded, waving a hoof in dismissal.

"For you, yes, most likely since you've probably had to compensate and discuss ones, privates, when making a more slim or tight suit for a male?" I said, dying inside of cringing so unbelievably much.

Rairty's eyes opened wide. "OH, yes, that. I was wondering about that, considering you didn't have a measurement for your crotch area that would indicate something like that. I was going to assume you kept it inside a flap or something like a dragon does."

I died of even more cringe upon hearing that. I curled up into a ball and tucked my head into my shirt while groaning while I slowly slid out of the chair and onto the floor like the embarrassed little blob I was.

"Nooo, we don't have that. It's just kinda all there, out in the open, very sensitive and very vulnerable. So much so we need a piece of clothing meant to separate it from the rest of the clothing, called underwear." I mumbled loudly from inside my shirt.

"Im sorry im making you uncomfortable dear. Um, but I do have to ask, is that what that one set of measurements that was named 'comfort zone?'" She asked, causing me to cringe even more than I thought I could.

"Yep"

"Well, thank you for telling me this. That will affect the current measurements, So im glad we got that sorted out. Any material preference?" She asked, sounding apologetic.

I popped my head back out of the neck in my shirt. "Merino wool."

"Oh wow, a very.... odd choice." She said, nodding and writing that down on a notepad.

"Personal preference, and Im very picky about what rubs against my balls." I blurted out, quickly punching myself in the face mentally out of embarrassment.

Rarity seemed unphased by the comment. In fact, she agreed with me, to my surprise. "As you should! This is actually the most common talk I have with stallions and some mares regarding garments for the rear part of their body. Chafing in a sensitive area is no joke. If that is your preferred material, then Merino Wool it shall be!"

"Eh, doesn't help me much in the embarrassment department, though." I said, still wallowing on the floor.

A sudden knock at the door caused Rarity's head to swing towards it, her eyes wide with a large grin on her face. "Oh?! Is that What I think it is?" She said excitedly as she got up. She set her fashion catalog on a roundtable as she trotted over to the door.

I felt like a turtle peeking out of its shell as I popped my head out the top of my shirt to look at the door. As Rarity opened it, there was a grey Pegasus mare with a yellow mane and tail flapping and what seemed to be a mailman, or mailwoman in this case, uniform. Flapping her wings, she hovered there with a package in her hooves. I felt my face contort in confusion as I immediately saw her wonky-looking crossed eyes.

She handed the package to Rarity and gave a salute before flying off. Rarity closed the door and went to a nearby table. "Oh, it is! Oh, how I have been waiting for this for over a week! I can finally finish that dress!"

Even Twilight was curious at this point. "What did you order, Rarity?"

Rarity smiled at Twilight as she began opening the extremely well package box. "Oh, just something a customer from Manehatten requested specifically for this one dress she ordered a little over a week ago."

She opened the box and lifted out a brilliant dark red gemstone bigger than both my hands put together. It was expertly cut and shined beautifully in the light. The main thing I noticed, however, was that it had a prominent source of Primal earth energy and Primal... fire energy? I got up off the floor after unfurling myself and began to walk over. Now curious about the gemstone myself.

I looked back to Rarity's face to find her facial expression had shifted to one of horror. "It's not ignited?!" She gasped.

Twilight almost whistled at Gem as she trotted over next to Rarity. "That's a Hearth-Fire Ruby! I've never seen one outside a book! These gems are so incredibly expensive! How were you able to afford it, Rarity!? Twilight asked in awe as she looked at the gemstone.

Rarity kept her horrified expression as she spoke. Turning over the ruby with her magic. "Well, my customer gave me the money to order one for the dress. But she specified she wanted an ignited Hearth-fire Ruby!"

Twilight's face also shifted into a shocked expression as her pupils went small in shock, and she whispered. "Oh."

Rarity dropped the Gem into the box filled with packing peanuts as she dragged a sofa from out of nowhere and collapsed on it dramatically. Throwing her hoof over her face. "NOW MY DRESS IS RUINED! I CAN'T AFFORD ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE!"

I walked over to the gemstone and picked it up curiously as Twilight went to comfort her friend, who was now wallowing on a couch dramatically. The Gem was strangely warm to the touch. It was a comforting warmth, like sitting inside on a cold winter night, wrapped in a blanket with a cup of hot cocoa next to the fireplace. It was also a lot lighter than I thought, like the weight of a heavy softball.

"So, what exactly is it supposed to be like when it's 'ignited?'" I asked, turning over the Gem in my hands.

"I've never seen one outside a book myself. But they say it's supposed to be like a flame trapped in a crystal. Constantly flickering and dancing about within the gems walls." Twilight said before going back to comforting Rarity.

"Well, I can do that if that's the case," I mumbled to myself.

I cupped my hands together and let the Gem rest inside them. I conjured a sigil of levitation just below the Gem. The sigil began to rotate, and the Gem slowly floated upward, roughly an inch away from my hands as It bobbed in the air steadily.

"Okay, now I believe this is the next part?" I mumbled to myself uncertainly. Pulling my left hand out from under the Gem slowly, making sure I didn't break the levitation sigil.

I held my hand open above the Gem and conjured another sigil that hovered just above the Gem opposite the levitation one. The second sigil had four circles with a flame within them that rotated around the sigil's edge. I took in a breath as I focused and activated the sigil. The four sparks of flame descended like snakes from tree branches to snatch their prey. Swaying and moving as they slithered downward. Once they were at the halfway point of the Gem, they opened their maws like the fangs of vipers and sunk their teeth into different parts of the dark red crystal.

The flaming snakes released their fire-like venom into the gemstone as the dark red jewel glowed from red into light, firey amber. Throwing light like a lantern and emanating heat like a campfire. It glowed brighter and brighter as the vipers released more of their venom into it. I waited a few moments before I removed the hold on the top sigil, and the vipers flickered out of existence. A flickering flame danced from left to right inside the Gem like a campfire on a warm summer night.

I smiled, released my hold on the lower sigil, and let the Gem drop into my hand with a light smack. It was much hotter now and gave off a heated aura rather than just being warm to the touch. I looked the stone over for cracks that may have formed during the imbuement process, turning it over in my hands a few times. The flames swished and mixed like it was suspended in a liquid. I got entranced by it. Until I shook my head and turned to face the two ponies behind me. Who was clueless to my actions, considering Rarity was dramatically weeping with a hoof draped over her eyes with Twilight beside her with a face that screamed, "Im so over this."

"Hey, Rarity," I said, causing Rarity to look up from the pillow she was pouting into. "Catch!" I said, throwing the Gem to her in an underhand toss.

Rarity caught the Gem in her magic, and once she noticed the flame within, her jaw dropped.

"wha-? How did you-? Huh-?" She mumbled confusingly, in awe of the Gem's new appearance. Even Twilight was in awe.

"Hearth-fire rubies need hundreds, if not thousands of years, under heat and pressure to even develop a flame like that! How did you do it?!" Twilight asked in shock.

I threw up some jazz hands and said, "Primal Magic!"

"Wait, Your magic can cause natural events in nature to happen almost INSTANTLY?!" Twilight asked in shock. Rarity was still looking at the Gem in her magic with awe.

"Well, yeah! We had farming mages back home that could make crops grow in a day that would take a whole season to grow. We had mages turn stone to ore using heat and pressure spells. Hell, we had mages grow rubies and emeralds from rocks! We had actual farms for ores, rocks, and gems."

I suddenly was tackled into a hug by Rarity. Who pleaded and thanked me with overzealous joy for saving her most important dress to date. The embrace was awkward, for me, at least. But I felt good making her day. When she parted the hug, she gave me a thankful kiss on the cheek, which I felt a little over the top, but I didn't complain. She then walked over to a dresser and tucked the Gem very neatly into a drawer.

"So," I started. "How much would this clothing order cost me?"

"For you, my dear. Nothing at all! You just saved one of my most important projects to date! The extra revenue from that one dress alone would cover the costs of this order without a doubt." She said proudly.

"Thank you; your generosity holds no bounds, Rarity. But I can't morally accept an offer like that Like I literally can't. Give me an amount, any amount, and I'll have it to you by Sunday. I promise." I responded.

"I assure you, my dear, it's completely alright. It's no trouble at all!" She said, trying to wave off the issue.

"Rarity, im serious. I was raised as a descendant of Merlin, and we never took handouts. We earned our way and paid our dues without question. We don't take handouts. Let me pay for the clothes, even if it's half-priced or something. It's a really personal thing for me. It's how I was raised." I pleaded.

Rarity looked at me with an annoyed stare. As if she wanted me to drop it, but I held firm and stared back. Then I saw a smirk creep onto her face. "Well, I'd say you definitely earned these clothes, considering you pulled off what no 'pony' could. Igniting a heart-fire ruby is no easy feat, I imagine. We'll consider that as your payment, hm?" She said slyly as she walked away to one of her desks and began drawing out plans with a pencil she held with her magic.

I couldn't help but smile as I accepted what she said, as it made perfect sense. "You clever pony," I said aloud. She turned her head towards me and winked before returning her attention to her work. I can't believe this pretty white pony just turned my own logic against me so that I wouldn't pay. And I couldn't argue it because it made too much sense! ARGH!

On the train ride home, I felt relieved in a sense. I don't know if it was because I got a rather difficult chore done or because I made a few new connections today. Either way, I got to see more of this world, and that's fine by me.

By the time I got home, I had found myself staring at about a dozen little spider bots with repair tools skittering all over my ruined aircraft, welding, and putting things back together.

"ROMULUS!" I yelled, kicking the door open. "WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GET OVER A DOZEN GENERATION NINE REPAIR DRONES?!"

Romulus picked his head up from the sword handle he was working on and looked over at me. "Oh, I just went through and fixed up the ship repair systems, although only barely since it was pretty banged up. Got the nanites to fix it the rest of the way, and then the drones popped out and started taking care of the hull and exterior."

I rubbed the bridge of my nose in annoyance as I totally forgot about the repair drones that I added to the repair system sometime before our grand departure. I walked over to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of whisky stored inside. "I need a drink..."

performance issues

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It's been about three months now. The first grand reveal of my work on that Sunday was a smash hit! It blew away all the guardsmen that showed! (or is it guard ponies? By the elements, I hate terminology!) Princess Celestia personally showed up to inspect the quality of my work, which wasn't a first since she occasionally stopped by to check in on me specifically. Always asked if I was adjusting well and such, and I showed her the progress on my work most times. Although I wasn't there half the times she showed since I was out doing social bullshit on Romulus's orders. That irked me, but there wasn't a thing I could do about it now. But still, the absolute positivity I've been getting from the guards who got revamped armor and weapons has not stopped even to this day. Hell, even Celestia gave me props, saying this was some of the best craftsmanship she's seen in her lifespan. The shit-eating grin I had for the rest of that week was so fucking stupid looking.

After that, I did the same thing for the next week, except I did it for the other half of the guardsmen on the shifts I couldn't take the orders for. My first half was the midday and swing shift guardsmen, which were out of the way and done. The second set was the grave and morning shift guards, so I pretty hard-swapped my sleep schedule around. I slept all day and worked all night. This put me out of the way of Celestia and right in the crosshairs of her sister, Luna. She often visited me in my dreams to talk and catch up. She said it was better for me as it let my body rest while we could talk. Which was fine by me as her natural presence seemed to keep my ever-plauging nightmares away. She was very kind but was definitely different from her sister. She appealed to logic more than anything emotional, which was the complete opposite of her sister. But we hit it off. Other than that, I actually got to work on the orders rather than getting ordered out on social trips by Romulus. I was done ahead of schedule because of it. And those shifts were just as pleased with my work as the previous ones. Im glad I didn't lose my touch in Everfree, that's for sure.

After that, Celestia asked if my skills extended beyond the field of armor and weapons. I told her that what she had seen was the midway portion of my skills. I could make practically anything from molten metal. However, it would have been easier to do if I could get access to better tools and such, which needed more money. Suddenly, my forge was on Celestia's personal royal ledger, and she had me open my services to the public of canterlot. She had a construction crew come in and extend the forge into the wall that separated the royal grounds from the public. I had a new long window to access and take orders from the public. On top of that, the whole forge got a major overhaul to my personal specifications for maximum efficiency. Big fancy new forge, a new resource storage vault built into the rocky mountainside, a testing yard for armor and weapons for the guards, and a full landing pad for my poor aircraft that had been basking in the sun just out in front of the forge for almost as long as I'd been in Canterlot.

After that, orders from the public peaked for about two weeks, then dropped to a nice steady flow. Mainly rudimentary stuff along the lines of construction tools and mass work orders from certain businesses. At that point, I was practically drowning in bits, this world's form of money, which were pretty much just gold coins. Celestia cut me a pretty nice deal compared to other business of mine on the tax and bill side of things. She wanted me to kick up a mere five percent of monthly income when most others were around ten to fifteen. I insisted on paying the normal amount as I didn't want to be treated any differently than the others native to Equestria. She then reminded me that I was extremely different in both case, culture, and species. She respected my commitment to my beliefs and will to respect pony-kind's ways. She had a point there; as much as I stayed true to my world's laws and beliefs, I did not force them on the ponies. Granted, I have explained and told others about it. I wasn't like, "conform to my world's standards or perish! yargabar!" Or anything like that. I was understanding and made sure to keep my practices separate from the ponys so as not to be disrespectful. But she had nothing but respect for my humility, and she wanted to show that in some way. Safe to say, I didn't argue with her.

Most of my time, though, is focused on my damaged aircraft rather than the storefront. It was one of my first priorities if I planned to solve some of the other issues that the ponies were having. Mainly the dispute between them and the dragons. But I was not going to make that journey on foot anytime soon. So, we focus on fixing the plane first. Speaking of which, I still gotta name that fucking thing. Referring to it as "aircraft" or "plane" has kinda grown stale at this point. How about "The Frontier?" This aircraft was designed to be the first craft to take us beyond our planet and to the stars. Albeit it was a prototype, that was the goal in the end.

The hardest part about fixing it was the fact that I didn't have the machinery nor the tools besides the repair drones to put it back together, not to mention the cockpit was fucked up beyond repair and had to be rebuilt entirely. So, I dumped about half of our total earnings thus far into processed materials and very specially made parts made by other companies from other key cities, the main one being Manehattan. Thankfully, being on Celestia's royal ledger gave me access to a special kind of mailman, or male pony for that matter, that stopped by every Sunday. He took stock of what I needed and took the percentage of earnings for that month if it was the last Sunday of the month. He also took my personal orders and requests straight to Celestia, and she saw to it that I got what I needed. The look on his face when I said I needed raw gold, diamond, lithium, and a metric shit ton of copper and silver, among a lot of other shit, was priceless. He asked me what I needed all of that for so he could put it down in his notes to the princess. (and I assumed to satisfy his own curiosity.) All I did was point at the Frontier in its fucked up state on the landing pad and say, "It's to build the shit I need to fix that piece of work."

After around two to three weeks of having Romulus and I tag team making all the sit we needed to make the parts. I commissioned the construction crew to put a very sturdy crane on the roof of the building so we could properly address both the cockpit and ruined wing, respectively. Of course, it was a design from my homeland, and I had to help them build it since they needed clarification about its wonky design, but we got it done in the end. Then, finally, I could get to work on something more my speed than just bending iron into the shape of a blade.

Speaking of something more my speed, my Bi-weekly ventures into my people's culture with Twilight has been something I've grown to look forward to. She has such a creative mind on her, and she understands concepts of my people better than any pony I've met so far. It was very clear why Celestia chose to take her under her wing versus anyone else. Of course, she wanted to learn about my people's magic right out of the gate, but I had to inform her that knowing the history of how that magic came to be and the Quadrinty's ideals would let her better grasp the concepts when we got to the actual teaching of the magic. She didn't argue against it, thanks to the elements. As a matter of fact, she was overjoyed to learn the history of magic, one of her favorite subjects according to her. I guess she and I like the same things. As I said, it was one of my favorites as well, aside from actual history. We both proceeded to go back and forth, gossiping about the historical idols we looked up to. Hers being Starswhirl the bearded, and mine being Merlin Andromadus Maximus. Greatest mage in Equestria and the man who discovered the Elementals along with the Quadrinity and by far the best mage ever to grace the earth. They had a lot in common, surprisingly enough, especially their lack of friendship knowledge, but at least Merlin had Starswirl beat overall in that regard as he actually got married and had kids. Even then, his family relationship was second when it came to his work.

Other than that, Twilight has been nothing but a joy to be around. Shining Armor has been great as well. We go out for drinks every now and then, and he often hangs out on his slower days on the job at the forge while I worked on The Frontier. He has been probably my closest friend in this new world, and his sister Twilight has been a close second. Those two have been a sort of gateway into the social norms of this new world, and I couldn't thank them enough for it.

Still, I had work to do, and today was the final day of work I had left on the Frontier. I was standing on top of The Frontier, using my hands to signal Romulus, who was Controlling the crane that held the newly refurbished and repaired left wing. I directed him so that we could reattach it to the main chassis of the aircraft. I had Shining down below, watching the bottom while I watched the top and gave Romulus directions.

"Little more... Little more... Alright, stop, that's good!" I yelled, giving a thumbs-up. I went to the side of the craft and looked down to Shining armor. "Does it look good down there, Shining?" I asked, Yelling down to him.

"All lined up how you showed me it should look!" He responded, yelling back at me.

"Alright, float me up my toolbox. Now the real work begins." I added. I turned my head to the slew of repair drones that stood unmoving on standby next to me. "Well, what are you all waiting for? Get to it!" The small spider-like drones chirped in response and, perked up at the order and began scattering towards the wings, welding and connecting it to the chassis.

On queue, a large black and blue toolbox floated up beside me, enveloped in shining armor and pink magic. I looked back down at him and said, "Thanks, and when you come up here, make sure you bring the cooler as well."

"You know I can't drink while on duty Rye-Rye!" He responded (Rye-rye, it's a nickname Shining gave to me around a month ago. It bugged me at first, but it quickly grew on me.)

"Doesn't mean I can't enjoy a cold one while I work! Not get your no fun havin' ass up here already!" I said, taking the toolbox, sitting down on the wing, and opening up a panel filled with wiring and circuit connections.

"Alright, now to get you wired up and connected while the drones do their thing," I whispered to myself as I opened my toolbox and got to work. Shining joined me shortly after with a cooler on his back.

"Why don't you just use your magic? It's easier on your back." I asked, looking at him as he set the cooler down.

"It's a good workout. I'll take every chance I can get to stay in shape." He responded.

"Fair enough, I guess. Do me a favor and hand me a twin-prong wire solderer, would ya?" I asked, gesturing over to the toolbox with my head while I made some of the basic connections.

"Sure!" he said as he walked over to the toolbox and peered inside. "What does it look like again? You got some weird-looking tools in here." He asked.

"it looks like my gun, L-shaped with a trigger, but has two very thin copper prongs on the end." I described.

"Oh, okay, gotcha." He said the desired tool was out of the toolbox. "Here ya go," he added, handing it to me. I pressed the trigger, and a bright white line of electricity sparked between the two prongs, crackling like a tazer. I used the tool to solder the connections together with the main hub of the aircraft.

"So," Shining started again. "You think this thing is gonna fly today?" He asked, looking over the refurbished craft.

"I don't know, really. In order to run a test flight, we gotta make sure the thruster on this wing runs well and is synced up the cockpit controls along with the other thruster. I could do it, but I will leave it to Romulus since he's better at that than me. I may be an engineer, but im not that good of a coder. Then there's a whole system diagnostic and bla bla bla. A whole bunch of stuff Romulus has to do before we could even think about flying this thing." I explained.

Shining scoffed, "You know, you've been working on this thing for so long. I figured you'd pop the wing on and be done with it."

"Yeah, I wish. But when it comes to tech like this, we HAVE to do every test and diagnostic before anything. It's a safety thing. Im not going to skip a bunch of testing synching to fly this thing, no matter how much I want to. It'd be more work and effort if I did that. The thing fails and crashes, I get hurt or worse, and there's ten times more work to do than before. It's just the smarter option." I responded.

I leaned back and wiped the sweat from my brow. "Alright, power couplings are connected." I pulled up my wristpad and opened a call with Romulus. "How are we looking on the rest of the wing, buddy?"

"Sir, the drones are just finishing up now. Once that's done, there gonna crawl inside and door the more precise work, get that panel finished up, and I'll get started on the digital work." Romulus said over the speaker.

"Sounds good. I just got done with the couplings, so it shouldn't be too long." I said, returning my attention to the panel.

"alrighty, sir, I'll leave you to it. Shall I start running the power cycling through the wing now that the power is connected?" Romulus asked.

"I still got my hands in the wires of the panel here, Romulus. You think it's a good idea to run power through them?" I asked sarcastically.

"Fair enough, sir." He ended while hanging up the call.

"Shining, pass me a beer and my dynamic torque wrench," I asked, reaching out my open hand.

I felt a cold bottle hit my hand. "Don't worry, it's already open for ya," Shining said. I took a sip of the booze and set it beside me.

"Now, the wrench," I said, turning back to see Shining already handing me the tool.

"Already grabbed it." He said with a smile as he handed it over.

I worked on the wires in silence for a few minutes in silence before shining spoke again.

"Romulus... what's his story?" He asked out of nowhere.

"Why the sudden curiosity?" I asked casually.

"Well, I know a lot about you, but I don't know a lot about him, and you guys seem very close," Shining responded.

"Well, if you want the 'me and him' story, I can sum that up pretty well. Romulus is and always will be, the second to the king of Romulios. He was my dad's personal advisor and assistant. He also ran the digital half of the kingdom, while my father ran the people half. I grew up alongside him in the castle, although he was older than most mountains by his standing. My parents were often busy with royal duties or just simply not at the castle on an important trip to another kingdom or other parts of our territory. So it was mainly me, my sister Devon, and Romulus in the castle. We joked and called him our 'Cool robot uncle,' But later on, I saw him as more of an older brother than another servant or distant family member. We talked a lot, and he was my personal tutor for most things I know how to do today. Yes, I may have surpassed him in the blacksmithing and engineering department. But he was the one who set me on the path and showed me the ropes." I Paused for a second and looked over at the forge building. I saw Romulus down at the window, tending to a pair of ponies. I couldn't help but smile. Then turned to look at Shining. "He is my brother now. We've been through hell and back together. We have a saying back home. 'The bonds of life are often forged stronger than the bonds of blood.' It means that sometimes, the relationships you forge in life are stronger than those of your family. I fully believe in it."

"Hm," Shining said as he nodded in approval.

"If you want, I could give you a two-hour-long lecture on his origin and how he came to be?" I asked jokingly with a laugh.

Shining laughed and said, "Respectfully, no."

"Eh, suit yourself," I said, finishing with the torque wrench. "Alright, last part, and we're done here," I said, taking another sip of my beer and grabbing both of the tools I had with a few clicks and a hissing of melting metal. I heard a low electronic vroom and a creaking of metal as the flaps and folding bits on the wing relaxed. Causing the wing to shift slightly and knock my beer over as it went rolling off the edge. I tried to save it, but I wasn't fast enough.

I stood up and put the tools back in the box. I went to the edge of the plane and called out to Romulus. "GO AHEAD AND DO YOUR THING. SHES ALL SET TO GO!" Romulus turned and gave me a thumbs-up.

I grabbed the handle on my toolbox, turned to Shining, and said, "Alright, time to get off this thing. It's best not to be up here when Romulus tests the thrusters." He didn't question me and jumped down easy peasy, landing on the ground with a clack of his hooves. I was pretty much two stories up, so I needed to slow my fall with a spell. I used it dozens of times before, so it shouldn't have been an issue.

I stepped off the edge and put my hand outspread, facing the ground as a bright white sigil appeared under my feet as I slowly floated down. Then, the sigil began to flicker slightly. I was confused at first, then refocused myself and projected more of my will downward into the spell. That only seemed to make it worse as it faded out, and I fell straight down for a few feet before it reappeared. Slowing my descent again.

"What the FUCK?!" I shouted in frustration, sending a bulk of energy to the spell. Causing it to implode on itself, and a shockwave blasted me at an angle. Knocking me into the underside of the newly attached wing, and I fell to the ground with a loud thump.

"Fuck!" I said, muffled, with my face on the ground. I was aching and sore in more places than one.

"Riley!" I heard Shining say worriedly as I heard his hoof steps approach. I felt his magic lift me, and as I was hoisted high enough to put my arm around his back for support. "Are you okay?" He asked.

"GODAMMIT! What is going on with my magic?!" I said, ignoring him. "Ever since I got out of Everfree, my magic has been getting weaker and more finicky, and I have no fucking clue why?" I ranted as I was slowly carried inside.

Romulus saw me limping and immediately went into medical treatment mode, or mom mode, as I called it. "By the elements, what the hell happened to you, sir?" He said as he rushed to my side and sat me down on a chair.

"I tried to use a spell to slow my fall and stepped off The Frontier. The spell flickered and kept turning off, so I got annoyed and shoved too much energy into it. It imploded and sent me first into the wing. Then I faceplanted onto the ground." I explained while Romulus scanned me with his eyes, checking for broken bones and such.

"Sir, I've told you not to rely on your magic because of previous incidents like this! We are in a new world now, with different rules. You can't expect things to work the same." Romulus said, popping my lower back back into place. Causing a groan of displeasure from me.

"Wait, this has happened before?" Shining asked, surprised.

I tried to jump in, but Romulus beat me to it. "Yes, twelve recorded times at least. However, this is the most deadly one that's happened to date, as none of the others injured him this badly."

"Here's the thing though guys, magic worked fine for me the entire time I was in Everfree! And for a while outside of it, too! That's the part I don't understand; it worked fine and then just started going off the frits, and I don't know what's causing it." I chimed in, trying to justify that I had no control of this problem.

Shining did the pony equivalent of rubbing his chin before speaking. "Well, since it imploded when you got frustrated, it could be tied to your emotions. Twilight has gone on long rants on how magic is linked to your emotions."

"NO SHIT!" I retorted. "The four primal elements that make up the magic I use all have some sort of emotional tie. That's like Elemental Magic 101. some of the first shit you learn, and on top of that, you cant tap into certain elemental runes of the quadrinity until you are at least adept in passing the trials handed down by your teacher mage."

"And from what I remember, sir, you graduated slightly earlier than the rest of your class in that regard," Romulus added.

"EXACTLY!" I responded, "Another reason why this fucking bugs me so much!"

"Sir, if I may, the repairs on my brain wave scanners and such are slowly coming, but once finished, I think it would be in your best interest to let me examine you. Things haven't exactly been the same since you arrived here in this new world, and I have a few theories on that." Romulus said. as a healing rune appeared in his hands as he mended the bruises and bumps on my chest and back.

"Theories like what?" Me and Shining asked in sync.

"Well," Romulus started. "It is purely speculation on my part, but crossing the veil between dimensions may have reset your magical mind and, in turn, your true understanding of the Elements. Causing the magic you used to be fluent in to be erratic and inconsistent."

"I guess that would kinda make sense? I said, looking at Shining. "That still doesn't explain why I was able to use it just fine while I was in Everfree Forest for around eight months."

"My guess, sir, is proximity to the dimensional entry along with residual energy from our home dimension. Suppose I was to make a suggestion to test this whole hypothesis in the meantime. Increase the number of visits from Miss Twilight to once a week, and when you get to the actual study of magic and its inner workings with spellcasting. Try to relearn and go through the steps with her yourself so you can re-find your understanding of elemental magic. If your magic improves, we found a solution. If not, well, then something else is amiss." Romulus suggested.

"Not a bad idea," Shining said, nodding in agreement. "In the times I've spoken with Twiliy as of late, she was nothing other than excited and invested in learning what you've been teaching her, Riley. So she would definitely make the time if you suggested her to swing by more often."

"Welp, I guess that settles it," I said, slapping my knees and standing up. "Romulus, go ahead and send Twilight a letter. Ask her if she is willing to stop by once a week on the usual day."

Romulus gave a playful salute and went to another room to grab a dragonfire lighter that Celestia gave me to send letters to Twilight via her baby dragon Spike, whom I've yet to meet, by the way.

"I'm gonna go investigate a few things just in case Romulus's theory on your magic is wrong. If magic is going on the frits in Equestria, something could be wrong. Better safe than sorry." Shining said as he made his way towards the door.

"All right, sounds good. Be careful Shining. I don't wanna see you here tomorrow morning with some fucked up armor like last time." I joked. Shining looked back and smiled before he left. Leaving me in the room all by myself for a few minutes before Romulus returned.

"Alright, I've sent off the letter. We should get a response back soon." He said.

"Cool, Since I'm done with my manual for the day. Ima help you with the diagnostics and coding on The Frontier. If I can't use magic properly, ima take the time to try and get better at the other skills I suck at." I said, opening up a large holographic screen from my wristband.

"Very well, sir," Romulus responded, projecting a larger yet similar screen from his eyes that he used to work with.

"Now then, LEARN ME COACH!"

Frontier Flight

View Online

I stood gazing over the pond from atop a small hill. I had my hands on my hips, taking a few deep breaths and enjoying the fresh air. Tree branches hung overhead from the tree behind me.

"So this is where you used to come study during your school days, huh?" I asked as I turned to look at Twilight, who was lying next to the tree reading a book.

"This is one of the places, yeah. My favorite place was inside the library," she responded. "This just happened to fit the request you asked for, 'a small body of water in a nice open area.'"

"Yup, this definitely fits the bill," I said, looking back over the pond before clapping my hands together excitedly. "SO, Ready to finally see and understand my form of magic in action?" I asked, looking back to Twilight.

"Yeah! Let me just put my book away." She said, closing her book and sliding it into her saddlebag that rested on the ground. She then got up and walked over to me.

I took a breath and began my lecture as I slowly walked towards the pond. "Elemental magic in its nature is very logical, simple yet also very volatile. Thus, much like you unicorns need your horn to focus your magic. Elemental magic needs its own focus. Luckily, any creature that has sentience and is self-aware has one. It's called our imagination. As you could do anything with magic if you know the science behind what you wanna do and the mental capacity to do it." I stopped just before the water's edge and turned back to face Twilight. She looked so excited and invested in my words. Made me feel warm inside. "A live demonstration of the magic was how I was introduced to the way of thinking required to use Elemental magic. As such, I will mimic the same situation with you."

I turned slightly and stretched my arm out over the water, gesturing to it. "If you wanted to walk across this pond and not sink into the water, how would you do it?" I asked with a smile.

Twilight was quick and sharp with her response. "Well, normally I would teleport across, but if I had to walk across, I say I would have to reference Starswhirl the Bearded's water walking spell-."

I made a loud, incorrect buzzer sound effect with my mouth, cutting off Twilight instantly. "WRONG," I stated bluntly.

Twilight was flabergasted. "Huh- what? Didn't you just ask how I would walk across the water?" She scrambled to find her words.

"I did. You're just using the wrong mindset and, even worse, the wrong magic." I added.

"Huh- what- I don't understand." I clearly had Twilight confused. So, I decided to give her a hint.

"Don't think about magic. Think about science." I said aloud.

Twilight cocked her head at me in confusion. Seeming more lost now.

"Okay," I began. "Lemme explain. Elemental magic is, in its simplest form, bending the laws of nature, the world, and, in the most extreme cases, reality to suit our needs." I turned and looked back over the pond. "How I would approach walking across the water here, I would start by strengthening the surface tension to withstand the weight of one such as myself. Then, I would make my feet hydrophobic and increase my body's overall buoyancy. If I were to combine all of that into a spell, or what we call a sigil, I should be able to walk on water with ease. Observe."

I focused my mind and took a deep breath. A large circle appeared in the air and glowed in front of me. "For this sigil, I would need, at the minimum, three water runes." I paused, focusing my mind once more as the five water runes appeared and embedded themselves in the sigil. "Then I would need earth rune and sky rune. The purpose of these extra two runes is to do two things. One, the earth rune strengthens the water tension, and two, the sky runes make me more buoyant. They will mix with two of the other water runes upon the sigil casting to apply the effect to the water. Then, the last water rune is to strengthen the water's surface tension." I paused again, socketing the last two runes into place on the sigil.

"Wait a second." Twilight started, causing me to turn my head and listen to her question. "How do you know the runes will do that?" She asked.

"One, because I told them too. And two, the runes have their own form of basic sentience in a way. They just need guidance to know what they are supposed to do, and then they fill in the rest from there. As I said earlier, Elemental magic is logical and scientific. I took that explanation of how I would walk on water, and im focusing it through the now completed sigil. The runes know my intentions, my thoughts, and my will. As such, they fulfill them as required. For me, the goal is logical and scientifically sound. So it is logical and scientifically sound to the runes as well." I explained. I put my hand to the sigil and pushed it, releasing the magic and casting the sigil into a spell. I then slowly raised my foot over the water and stepped onto it. My foot hit the water and bobbed a few centimeters downward, but it didn't break the water's surface tension. I took another step, and the same result followed. I looked back with a cheeky smile at Twilight, whose mouth was agape in surprise. I did a few laps around the pond before stepping onto the earth again and releasing my mental hold on the spell.

"So, the runes work based on intention rather than having a specific hold in the world?" Twilight asked, rubbing her chin with her hoof in thought.

"In practice, yes, in their original nature, not so much. Think of the Elemental runes as Iron ore. You can't do or make much with it. But when you put it through a forge, you can turn it into a sword, a chest plate, and an iron beam from construction. But YOU are the forge that turns the elemental runes into an active force. In a way, Elemental runes are just potential energy waiting to be used and turning into kinetic energy or active energy. The runes, by themselves, hold a lot of power but can't act on by themselves; they need a catalyst to give them a purpose to act." I explained.

"Okay, I think I got it. It's a little funky, but I think I got it." "she said, nodding her head.

"Don't worry if you don't get it. It's a difficult concept to understand, let alone explain." I reassured her.

"I do have a question though. What are the elemental runes exactly, and where did they come from?" Twilight asked.

"Excellent question! The elemental runes are essentially the building blocks of the primal realm that were the foundation for our realm, just like how atoms and molecules and all those microscopic things are our baseline building blocks. The Primal realm is the opposite of the realm we lay on. Everything there is a cloudy energy mist. At least, that is what the books I've read say. Whereas everything here is physical and compounded into the world we know. The elemental runes are essential to both the physical and energetical bridge between the realms now that the two realms have reached their full potential." I explained.

"Huh... Although I find it highly unlikely that our entire world, including ourselves, came from a place of infinite energy and magical symbols. The whole concept and philosophy is actually very interesting." Twilight commented.

I gave her a slight side-eye at her comment and shrugged it off with a sigh. She had been making comments similar to that the entire time I've been showing her my people's culture. She finds it interesting but doesn't seem to believe the whole of it. She knows the magic is real because I've used it. But other than that, she holds her world's Ideals firm. I understand and respect her. However, this is how things worked in my world, and for some reason, it's wrong just because it's different. I couldn't comprehend that. Even the pony I had gotten closest to, Shining Armor, didn't fully believe my world and the way it worked. It was, for lack of better terms, Extremely Infuriating.

I sighed and tried to clear my head with the first thing that came to mind. "Shifting Focus, POP QUIZ!" I turned sharply and suddenly. I pointed my finger at Twilight, catching her by surprise. "Now that you have a better understanding of how my people's form of magic works. I'm now going to cast a spell, and you are going to try and tell me how the spell works. Then we can move on to the next topic."

"Okay?" Twilight said, slightly confused.

"Alright, pay close attention and think about science and logic while observing." I reminded her as I readied myself. It was an easy spell, for sure. One that we all learned magic-wise when first dabbling into the realm of using fire-based spells. Since the ability to make a fire in a pinch is very important.

I raised my hand and snapped my fingers. Then, small sparks flung outward immediately as the snap happened. I quickly yet casually opened my hand, and the sparks flew inward toward the center of my palm and compressed into a ball that quickly grew and ignited into a ball of fire the size of a baseball. While all this was happening, a single fire rune sat in my palm, resting against my skin.

"Now, what did I do to cast this spell?" I asked.

"Hmmm..." Twilight said, rubbing her chin with her hoof.

"Here is a hint: It involves how fire starts naturally in nature," I added.

I waited a few moments while Twilight. Thought before she answered. "It's probably wrong with how funky this magic is, but is it heat?"

"Heat is sometimes the by-product of this sometimes. Other times, you could be dragging your feet, or in this case, your hooves, across the carpet, and you could shock your friends accidentally." I responded. I had a smile on my face this whole time.

Twilight went back to thinking, this time with a frustrated look on her face, which caused me to giggle, and then I was told to shush, which caused me to giggle more.

"There's no way it's friction, right?" She said.

"DING DING DING! We got a winner here, folks!" I yelled as I ran in circles, celebrating.

"HOW IN THE NAME OF CELESTIA DOES THAT HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH WHAT YOU JUST DID TO MAKE A FIREBALL?!" Twilight yelled, clearly very annoyed.

"Okay, lemme explain." I started. "So what I did was snap my fingers, which caused friction. When you start a fire in nature, you need a spark, which, the majority of the time, is caused by friction, whether it's striking a match or a flint and steel. All the way to rubbing sticks together fast enough to cause a friction burn. Friction is the main contributor to actually starting the fire, alongside air and fuel." I explained.

"How does friction start fire naturally in nature, though? All the things you said require pony or human interaction with nature." Twilight questioned.

I pointed up and said. "Lighting, one of the leading causes of natural forest fires."

Twilight shot me a 'really?' look.

"Lightning is a sudden discharge of STATIC electricity. A significantly larger form of the shock you build up, which you occasionally shock your friends with. How Lightning works is when a large condensed area of clouds gets close enough. Positive and Negative charges build up and start rubbing against each other, which is FRICTION between electrons and protons on a level smaller than microscopic. With how many of those charges there are in that small space. That static energy builds up extraordinarily fast, and when it gets big enough, it discharges. Thus giving us lightning, which can strike a tree and cause a fire. That fire was still, in a way, all caused by friction. BOOM." I said, gesturing with my hands that I dropped a mic and walked a few steps away before circling back.

Twilight opened her mouth for a moment to contest. Then, she thought for a moment and shortly after closed her mouth.

"Okay, I see your point. But how did you fuel the fire in your hand? I know you have air, but what about wood or anything like that?" She asked.

"You know how I said the Elemental runes were a bridge between the two realms, right?" I asked. Twilight nodded.

"Well, I was speaking very literally. Not only are runes used as bases for casting spells. They are a gateway to infinite energy. You can use them to power spells using energy from the primal realm. It just causes energy to both open the link to the primal realm to use that energy and to keep that link open. In doing so, I used energy from the primal realm focused through a fire rune to fuel the fire. However, It does require concentration to do so. But when you use a spell enough, it can become second nature, like breathing. When I use that fire spell, I don't even feel the stress of the link until I start making either bigger, hotter or just a fuck ton of fire." I explained.

"Wait, You're saying the runes can tap into a power source that has near-infinite energy?" Twilight asked, stunned.

"Yes, but it's not 'near infinite.' It is just infinite. There is so much fucking energy in the primal realm, both already there and being made constantly by the Elementals just existing, not to mention the arc elementals whose whole purpose is making energy from nothing, that our sun would burn out billions of millions of billions of years from now. And that massive energy pool wouldn't even stir or ripple even if we used it to as much of a capacity as we could. As a matter of fact, it would have gotten bigger." I corrected.

Twilight sat there, jaw agape for a moment before just whispering. "Oh my gosh."

"YEAH. Everyone has the same reaction when they hear that the first time. I did the same thing. But now that we've covered the basics of magic. We can start getting into the nitty gritty of it-" The ringing of my Wristpad cut me off.

I held up a finger to Twilight and said, "Hold, please." I then turned away from her, flipped open my Wristpad, and answered the call that was coming in from Romulus. "Hey Romulus, what's up? I'm kinda about to get into a lecture about magic with Twi-"

"You are late, Sir! The princesses have been waiting along with a crowd of over three hundred ponies for over half an hour!" Romulus yelled, cutting me off.

"What?! What are they waiting for?! And why is there a crowd of three hundred ponies outside my forge?" I asked, utterly confused.

"Sir, Did you forget we're running the test flight for the Frontier today?" Romulus asked.

My eyes widened in shock as I realized. "FUCK! It totally spaced my mind when I got my discussion started with Twilight! I'll be there in twenty tops; just tell the crowd to hold on a little longer." I said, closing my wristband. Promptly ending the call. I whipped around and dashed past Twilight, grabbing my bag that was leaning against a tree as I ran across the grassy courtyard. "Why the fuck is there a crowd to begin with?" I said under my breath.

Shortly after my sudden departure, Twilight appeared alongside me, going at a fast trot. I still wasn't as fast as ponies, and I don't think I ever will be without using magic.

"Wait, you forgot about your test flight today? You literally said when we met up that it was probably going to be a short session." She said.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. It actually just spaced my mind. When I start talking passionately about a subject, I tunnel vision on it and kinda forget a lot of other things I'm thinking about at the current moment. Happens more often than you think." I responded as I rapidly ran out of breath.

"Well, In any case, I know a shortcut to get us back to forge." She said with a smirk.

I slowed down and started to catch my breath. "Really? Where-" I was cut off as a bright flash of pink light erupted from Twilight's horn, blinding me. I was mid-run and tripped and fell as I felt the ground suddenly change beneath me. I put my arms out so I stopped my face from hitting the ground and pushed myself back to my feet. When I looked up, I saw myself in front of the forge, my large Aircraft sitting ready to go on the landing pad beside it. I turned my head behind me at a loud set of shocked gasps to see a huge crowd of Ponies, including the Princesses, who were being addressed by Romulus moments before my sudden arrival. Twilight was standing next to me with a smile and a few beads of sweat dripping down her forehead.

I stood up straight as I prepared to take over for Romulus, who stepped aside as I stepped forward. "Sorry, everyone. I didn't mean to make you all wait this long. My lecture with Twilight had this whole event in my mind, a very annoying thing that happens to us humans when we are passionate about something. But now I am here. I need to put on my flight suit, and we'll be set for takeoff."

A loud response of groans came from the large crowd of ponies. Which Celestia quieted with a wave of her hoof as she spoke. "Come now, everpony. We did come to see the unveiling of a marvel of magic and science. Such things take time to prepare, and our helpful friend Riley has been working very hard to get to this point. Im sure we can all wait just a few more minutes." Celestia looked at me and nodded to get everything ready. Shining Armor was standing next to her alongside a few other guardsmen, and he did the same when I set my eyes on him.

I nodded in response and turned back towards the forge, grabbing Romulus by the collar as I walked towards it so he could walk with me. I let go of him once he started walking with me and asked, "Why is there such a big fucking crowd? I only told Celestia, Shining, and his sister about this shit."

"Well, sir, I can shed some light on that," Romulus answered. "Celestia and her sister showed up with the guards and the crowd around an hour ago. In short, She gave me a monologue about how this was a big day for you and thought having a group to celebrate its success would be a nice gesture. After that, she gave a small speech to the rest of the ponies to get them excited for the test flight. The Wonderbolts showed and gave their, how should I put it, 'Opinions' on whether or not the Frontier would fly. And let's just say they were not kind remarks. Spitfire was the leading contributor to these remarks."

"Of course she was," I said as I pushed open the door to the forge. "What about Soarin?" I asked.

"Soarin and two of his close friends within the bolts were the only ones with positive outlooks on the whole matter," Romulus answered.

"Good, at least he is still one of the good ones," I responded as I pushed open another door. Revealing a refurbished suit of combat armor like the one I was wearing when I first crash-landed in Equestria, hanging on a custom armor rack. I had tinkered with it to be thinner, sleeker, and overall more mobile. I grabbed the chest piece and began putting it on.

"Romulus, help me out with this?" I asked.

After a few minutes, I was suited up, save for the Helmet, which was sitting on a nearby table while I did the last few straps.

"Oh, Sir, before you head back out there. It would be best if you spoke with the arc Elementals before you go. They Still haven't produced a third elemental for the new Arc core for the Frontier. I've tried to do it myself, but you are more capable of convincing them." Romulus added as I grabbed my Helmet and tucked it under my arm.

"Romulus, it's not a matter of convincing. Making another arc elemental for them is like a bunch of humans cutting off bits of themselves to make a whole new human. It takes a lot out of them. The fact they made the two they already have in these last three months is astonishing. Normally, you're supposed to wait at least six months!" I responded as I walked past him, and he held open the door.

"I am very well aware, Sir. You just seem to have the ability to talk to them better than I ever could." Romulus continued as he walked beside me. "Just have a quick conversation with them and see if they would be willing to split up one of the original three."

I held up a hand to stop him. "We already tried that. The original three we pulled from the Frontier are inseparable. You know this. That's why we need them to make another three arc elementals. And we can socket them back into the Frontier since they are locked into their new slot in the back room of the forge. I'll have a word with them; you try and keep that crowd out there entertained a little while longer." I said I arrived at a large metal bulkhead and began cranking the wheel lock on the center of the door.

"That's what I've been doing for the last half hour. You were late, Sir. Im sure I could do it a little while longer." Romulus said as he departed. I heard the loud clank of the metal lock unlocking, and I pulled the large hunk of steel that was this door open and stepped inside.

The room was small yet very well-lit by the pulsing blue wires that ran along the ceiling and parts of the wall. Along with the large pillar in the center that had the same glass canister the Arc elementals were sitting inside when I fixed it back in the Everfree forest. Just now, it was much bigger, the glass was properly fixed, and there were five of the arc elementals shimmering around inside the container.

"Hey guys! How are you all doing in there? Comfy, I hope." I asked as I walked up to the large glass cylinder.

The bright blue balls of electricity inside beeped in agreement simultaneously.

"Good, glad you all aren't cramped in there." I took a quick breath inward. "I'm sure you all can guess why I'm here by now, yeah?"

The Elemental's beeps turned sour and grumpy, confirming my fears.

"Yeah, I know it hurts when you guys do it now. But the Frontier won't fly without a three-stage arc elemental reactor core. And since your original three are stuck in the casing, I need a new set of three, and we're one away." I said politely.

The elemental's beeps grew tired and hesitant; they recalled how many they had made over the last three months and how much work they had put in to get what they had already done.

"Please, guys, I got a crowd of around three hundred ponies outside expecting to see the Frontier fly today. Along with a particularly racist group of ponies who don't think my tech can fly at all. I wanna prove them wrong, but I can't do that with a two-stage reactor. Please, guys?" I pleaded.

They were still hesitant about doing another summoning so early since the last one this last month and a half ago. But they were close; they just needed a push, a selling point.

"If you do it, I'll leave you guys alone on this subject AND personally set up that lightning rod we talked about." I offered with a smile.

The moods of the Elementals immediately switch tones at hearing the words 'lightning rod.' They did a short set of beeps that meant, "Promise?"

"I promise on my royalty as a prince of Romulios," I swore.

The Elements started electrically popping rapidly as they grew bigger and brighter, bright enough to make me look away and cover my face, but the wires also grew brighter. The room began to vibrate slightly until the light slowly dissipated. I returned to look back at the capsule as now there were six elementals shimmering around. Albeit dimly and much slower than they were before.

I walked back up the capsule and tapped a few buttons on the console next to it. A small arm that looked like a double-sided ice cream scooper came out of a hole that opened in the bottom of the capsule-like a crab claw, grabbed one of the elementals, and took it downward into the pillar.

A slot opened in the lower half of the pillar, and there was a smaller capsule identical to the one needed for the Frontier in it, along with the same elemental inside it.

"Thank you guys. I'll get that lightning rod up tomorrow; with the Frontier soon to be flying, it will be a piece of cake," I said as the arm grabbed another one of the younger elementals.

As the arm deposited the final young arc elementals, I grabbed the handle atop the smaller capsule and twisted and pulled it from its slot in the pillar. I said goodbye to the rest of the Arc elementals as I left the room and re-sealed the bulkhead. I held the capsule in my left hand and let it dangle down by my leg as I walked casually. I passed by the back holding my Helmet, picked it up nonchalantly, and tucked it under my right arm.

I walked back outside and was face-to-face with the crowd once more. I spotted Twilight and Shining armor next to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. I wanted to wave since they, too, saw me and were waving at me. But my hands were full.

"I'd wave back, but I got my hands full!" I shouted. Holding up my Helmet and the capsule. They nodded in understanding, and I kept heading for the Frontier. I saw a smaller group of the wonderbolts on the way. Spitfire and Soarin were among them. Saorin was nice and waved, whereas Spitfire gave me a dirty look and shouted some comments about the Frontier. Things along the lines of "piles of scrap metal" and "a bucket of bolts."

All I could do was smirk. "This bucket of bolts and scrap metal is gonna leave your ass winded and spiraling in the clouds fuckhead! Learn some humility in the next ten minutes cause your gonna need it, asshole!" I shouted as I walked up the entrance ramp of the Frontier.

The interior was revamped heavily, as many things on the inside were bent out of place due to the crash landing. I walked over to a side wall and pressed a button as a slot for the capsule opened. I set my Helmet on a hook temporarily and brought up the glass of the capsule to my face.

"Okay, guys, Im gonna send you guys down to the power chamber and give you some time to spread yourselves out throughout the Frontier. Once I got the go-ahead were set to fly from you guys. I'm gonna start her up, and we're gonna take to the skies." I explained.

The Arc elementals beeped in understanding.

"I will note this Aircraft is much more demanding power-wise than where you guys just were. Especially in full flight mode. Giving you guys this heads up now, okay?" I added.

Once again, the elementals beeped in understanding. I slotted the capsule into the slot and closed it off. I heard the tube suck the capsule downward. In a few seconds, all the dim lights inside the Frontier came to full brightness. I exited the Frontier and decided to go talk to the princesses while the Elementals got comfy.

I walked out of the Frontier and ignored more comments from Spitfire as I walked back toward the main crowd. Thankfully, I didn't have to push through ponies to get to them, As Celestia told them to make way for me.

I walked up to Celestia and luna and gave my usual respectful royal kneel. "Seid gegrüßt, Majestät, Elemente erblicken uns."

Celestia tried to mimic the expression but absolutely butchered the pronunciation of the words. I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Not quite the right way to pronounce it, I'm afraid. But I appreciate the gesture nonetheless. I'll teach you how to say it properly some time." I said, getting up from my kneel.

"Oh, I figured you would, Seeing as you've been away from home for so long. And it would be nice to understand a bit of that ancient tongue better. It just sounds so fascinating!" Celestia said with a warm smile. "Don't you agree, sister?" She said, looking at Luna.

"Not as much as you, dear sister, but I do admit, it is quite captivating." She responded.

Celestia returned her gaze to me. "So you're going to finally test out your machine today? Oh, so exciting! I can't wait!" Celestia said, fiercely hiding the giddy child under her royal expression.

"Yeah, we're going to fly the Frontier today. I gotta ask, though, Why the large crowd? It's not like I'm going back home or anything. Not like I could anyhow. Not yet, at least." I said, slowly drifting into a mumble the longer I talked.

"Well, most of these ponies are heads of major manufacturing or mineral processing operations and such from across Equestria. I figured you could use some easy advertisement," she said as she leaned her head in close to me and winked, sticking out her tongue ever so slightly.

"Oh, you sneaky fucking genius!" I whispered.

"Riley," Twilight's voice caught my attention. "From what I've gathered, this aircraft is supposed to fly, correct?" She asked.

"Yes, and it runs on the most utilized fight engagement system Romulios has to offer," I responded.

"Out of curiosity, how fast do you think it can go?" Twilight asked.

"Do you wanna know how fast it CAN go? Or how fast I THINK it can go?" I counter-asked.

"Um, why not both?" she said nervously with a smile.

"Okay, well, before I answer that, now I have to ask. What is the fastest thing that can fly here in Equestria?" I asked.

"Well, technically, the fastest fliers are the Wonderbolts. But the fastest thing I can think of, off the top of my head, is a pegasi that can perform a sonic rainboom, which is breaking the sound barrier in a rather spectacular fashion." Twilight answered.

"Okay, so, the official specs for the combination of the two Arc gyroscopic drive burst engines in the wings of the craft combined with the Raw power and thrust of the 'thunderclap' rear heavy rocket thrusters. On top of the anti-gravity matter weight reduction drive. It could reach speeds of Eleven thousand five hundred and nine times the Speed of sound or Mach fifteen with full direction mobility and turning availability," I said, calculating the math in my head.

Twilight looked at me confused, seeming not to understand me, along with the two royals and Shining armor next to me. It dawned on me they didn't know my units of measurement. Gah, im still learning this shit to this DAY.

"Fifteen times the speed of sound." I corrected myself. The Faces of the ponies around me almost made me keel over from laughing too hard.

Once I was able to recover from my laughing fit. I had to hit them with the other half of my answer.

"Now, here's the Kicker! Now, if you removed the ability to turn or go any direction other than straight, turned off a few safety couplings, and had all systems only power the engines and flight systems, along with having the Arc elementals powering the things hit the systems with full power. You could theoretically go Mach fifty. Or fifty times the Speed of sound." I added.

The loud thud of Twilight's body hitting the floor as she passed out caused me to lose it even harder.

Once, I composed myself once more, and Twilight came too. I had to put something out there. "Of Course, the Aircraft, if manufactured and enchanted to the absolute best, would only last about ten seconds due to the sheer air friction alone. It would literally tear itself apart. Besides, it never was necessary to go that fast anyway. Hell, we never really went up to match fifteen in those things, anyway! We barely went above Mach six." I said, trying to ease everyone's mind, which worked slightly.

I heard a ping on my wristband, signifying it was time to take flight. I bid the Royal sisters, Twilight, and Shining a farewell and ran back to the Frontier with excitement. I yearned for the moment I could hop in a cockpit and just fly without any risk of getting shot down or blown up.

I ran up the entry ramp and closed it on the way in, along with grabbing my Helmet off the hook I set it on. I then walked through the interior until I reached the now singular Pilots chair in the center of the cockpit. I removed the copilot's seat since It wasn't exactly needed. I sat down in the seat, buckled in, and put on my Helmet.

On the right armrest of the seat was a throttle control and a few buttons on the sides. At the same time, the left had a pilot's Joystick with a trigger and a small thumb joystick with a few buttons beside it on the Joystick itself. The armrests were lowered, and the back of the chair was leaned back farther than normal, yet the whole thing was raised higher than usual. It was my personal choice for a Pilot's chair. The cockpit window was fully replaced and was expanded to widen the pilot's field of vision.

I gripped the Joystick in my left hand and rested my right hand on the throttle. Once I did so, the chair scooted up slowly to the dash. It gave me an even better view, but I also made it to where I couldn't get out of the chair. Not easily, anyhow.

I tapped the side of my heart as the interior hud hummed to life. I leaned forward and tapped one of the screens and synced my Helmet to it as the hud shifted to a flight control hud with altitude, wind speed, and such. I also opened a direct comms channel with Romulus.

"Spyglass, do you copy?" I asked.

"Going back to our tactical radio names, I see, Draco Leader," Romulus said snarkily over the Radio.

"Old habits die hard, Spyglass. Im going ahead with Engine startup; you have one minute to ensure everyone outside is at a safe distance from the landing pad." I said.

"Roger that, Draco leader. I'll see to it that it's done." Romulus assured me. After a few seconds, I heard his voice over the intercom at the forge; it was muffled as shit as I was turning on the pressure seal and the anti-g-force enchantment, among other systems, so I didn't turn into a human beanbag on certain turns mid-flight.

I went through all the usual systems before I got to the engine ignition. Which I waited on Romulus for since I wanted outside Confirmation the engines were on.

"All civilians are clear of the takeoff area, Draco leader. You are clear for engine ignition." Romulus's voice resurged over the Radio.

"Roger that Spyglass. Going for burn." I said, leaning forward to what the engines in the wings from the cockpit. I quickly twirled the Joystick a few times to see the large discs of the ringside engines turn and move with the controls to see if they synced up properly, which they did. I then flipped a switch and saw the center of the disc open as an electric spark ignited into a bellowing blue flame in the center of the newly opened area of the right disc engine. I checked the left one and saw another bellowing blue flame.

"Spyglass, I have wing engine ignition confirmation. Standing by for Rear engine ignition confirmation." I said.

"Roger that, Draco leader."

I waited a few seconds before he came back over the Radio.

"Rear engine ignition confirmed. Dracro leader, you are clear for takeoff." He said, causing me to smile in delight.

I moved the right stick ever so slightly to increase engine thrust. I saw the bellowing flames in the wing engines nearly triple in size as the whole craft slowly began to rise. I pushed the stick ever so slightly forward to increase the Speed a little more and used the Joystick to turn the craft toward the audience of ponies. I felt right at home in this chair. I felt in control for once in a familiar setting.

I gave a small wave to all the ponies and continued with my flight test. I decided to see just how sensitive this could be. I jerk the Joystick to the right and damn near hit the mountain above my forge with how fast the craft moved to the left. But, with that action, I immediately knew the sensitivity of my craft. I found myself weaving in between the taller buildings of Canterlot and the towers of the royal castle with utter ease. But I wanted to get to the good part that would really blow everyone's pants off, especially spitfires.

"Spyglass, Im going to move from hover test mode to flight test mode. Am I clear for testing shift?" I asked.

"Draco vortex, you are clear for the testing shift. Move over to the original takeoff area and show these ponies the power of Romulios engineering." I could hear his tone shift in the second half of his statement. Causing me to smile sadistically.

I moved the Frontier back above the original landing site but pointed towards the wide open air of Equestria, away from Canterlot and its mountains.

I flipped on the intercom and said. "This concludes the hover flight test. We will now move on to the full flight test." I started and turned off the intercom.

I flipped a switch on the right armrest, and the discs in the wings turned ninety to where the bellowing flame pointed behind the Aircraft, but the flame was compressed into a ball magically within the engines. "Switching disc engines to flight mode," I said as I leaned back into the chair, mentally preparing for what was about to happen. I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to make a statement like thunder that followed a bright flash of lightning.

I took a deep breath and rolled my fingers, gripping the thrust control stick.

I then pushed it forward in a sudden movement.

The following thunderclap and force that made me sink into my seat gave me a rush of adrenaline I hadn't felt in a long time. It was like scratching an itch you haven't been able to in years as the Aircraft shot forward with incredible Speed. I found myself entranced by the feeling of being this fast, this up high, as I watched the clouds zoom past me. After a moment, this feeling left me, and I was back in control. I immediately turned and pulled the Joystick, causing the craft to spiral into a barrel roll and pull upward higher into the sky. I began doing all sorts of tricks, flips, and combat maneuvers to put this craft through its paces. I often found myself screaming in delight as I did so. I even pushed my luck and flew between the towers of Canterlot. I avoided the builds as I could have very easily shattered the glass in the windows.

I then saw Cloudsdale in the distance, and a thought popped into that dastardly evil head of mine.

"Let's go flex on the bird horses."

I took off for the city. Upon arriving, I took over one of the empty racing tracks and flew through the rings and such. Enjoying myself immensely.

However, Imagine my shock when going below each one, and a rainbow-maned pegasus kept pace with me just outside the cockpit window. I saw her turn towards me and wave casually. I was stunned for sure. Then she started talking.

"Computer, translate what she's saying for me."

In a few moments, the pegasus came over the interior intercom.

"If I had known Twilight had Invited me to see this thing, I would have showed up dangit! This thing would be great to race against." She said, slightly annoyed.

I flipped on my intercom and said. "Yeah, no, I don't think you can race this thing above this Speed. Because Im not even trying right now."

"What?" She said in response, shocked by what she heard. "I betcha I can!"

"No," I chuckled, "No, you can't. This thing can go so much faster."

"Oh really, well we'll just see about that-" She was cut off by the thunderclap of the engines as I cranked up the thrust and broke the sound barrier AGAIN and soared up to Mach two and left her in the fucking dust. I pulled back on the Joystick and flew higher. Doing more tricks at a higher speed.

Suddenly, I found myself gazing upward toward the higher blue sky, Toward the great beyond. I double-checked that I had the experimental interplanetary pressure system still installed on the craft, which it did, and contemplated some things.

"Sir, no, we have no idea if that works yet." Romulus's voice appeared over the Radio suddenly.

"Um, what? I dunno what you're talking about." I said quickly, trying to play dumb.

"Sir, I have a video feed from your Helmet pulled up right now. I just saw you check for it." He responded.

"Check for what?" I said, still playing dumb.

"The system we were testing to see if we could take humankind into space, The interplanetary pressure system. I'm gonna tell you now, I forbid whatever you're thinking!

"Romulus, we never got the chance to test it properly, and the tests we had done were all good! I wanna know how close we were to getting everyone out of that hell." I said, finally dropping the act.

"Absolutely not! It's too dangerous!" Romulus said, standing his ground.

I looked up at the great beyond for a few seconds.

"FUCK IT!" I jerked the Joystick back and shoved the right stick forward, sending the craft up to Mach five.

"SIR, WHAT ARE YOU-" I hung up the coms link and focused on my assent. I increased the thrust again, going up to Mach seven, and prepared the activation of the pressure system.

"Remote control access detected from an outside source," The feminine robotic voice of the Aircraft said aloud over the intercom.

Romulus was trying to override the controls and take control of the craft. Not today, buddy, I need to know...

"Computer! Send Designation 'Romulus' Override code: MR-LN 1927. Command: FCK-FF. Also, counter remote access."

"Understood, Maser royal override accepted and sent. Locking out remote access."

I refocused and increased the Speed to Mach ten. The whole craft began to shake but still held steady. I kept hold of the Joystick and kept the craft on Course. I eyed the altitude meter until the time was right.

"Computer active atmospheric thruster boost!"

"Command confirmed, activating boost."

I sank back further into my chair as I heard what sounded like an explosion behind me. Followed by a roaring rumble as my Aircraft's Speed doubled to Mach twenty. The sky's color shifted from blue to black and filled with stars. I reached my arm forward and triggered the pressure system. I saw the whole interior of the craft hiss and compress as it became sleeker and tighter.

I suddenly felt weightless as the thrusters burned out and the Speed stopped. The craft slowly came to a stop as air bursts shot out of the hull, and the wing engines flipped to slow the craft to a stop.

I turned the stick slowly and found myself looking at half the sun, along with the rest of the planet. The clouds and storms on the surface moved and swirled constantly. The Cockpit window adjusts its tint to accommodate for the sun's brightness. The continents below the cloud cover the planet were rigid, rough textured, and full of color due to the differences in elevation from the mountains and hills. The sight was something I had never thought to behold in my life. I'd seen pictures from satellites, but never like this. I looked down at the planet and just felt small. I thought about the war and just how small it was in the grand scheme of the universe. It made me shed a few tears, I'm not gonna lie. Why did my whole race have to die before we could explore the stars?

I grabbed my necklace with my old friends' dog tags on it and my royal crest and held it tightly.

"I made it, guys; I made it, Dad. We were so close, yet we weren't quick enough to finish it." I paused for a second as I got choked up on my words.

"I wasn't quick enough to finish it. I wasn't good enough to end the war once we had their capital in sight. I needed to be faster to save our people. And now... Im the only one left."

"pressure seal working at Sixty percent capacity. Five minutes of oxygen Remaining."

My eyes went wide when I heard the ship's computer say that. "Uh, shit, FUCK, I forgot re-entry protocols! Uh, Uh, UH!"

I flicked on the communications channel to Romulus.

"Romulus! I need you to walk me through re-entry protocols and make it fast! I got less than five minutes up here." I said franticly.

"Godammit Riley, I told you not to do this!" Romulus said angrily.

"LESS SCOLDING MORE HELPING!"

"Okay, Im hacking back into the Froniter systems since you locked me out. I am going to put a flight path with instructions on your hud. FOLLOW THEM EXACTLY as you see them! I can see the pressure seal isn't holding because the new cockpit isn't fully calibrated to it. So re-entry is gonna be tricky." Romulus explained as the path began to form on my hud.

"What do you mean by tricky?" I asked nervously/

"Well, without the complete pressure seal, the fireball on entry has a chance to seep through the cracks of the cockpit that connects it to the plane, and you could burst into flames, but there's only a chance of that happening."

"A CHANCE?! How big of a chance?" I said as I started to breathe really fast out of fear.

"Not important, focus on getting back down here. You got two minutes of oxygen left, so you don't have a lot of time." Romulus responded.

"Oh fuck, Okay, here we go!" I said nervously, breathing heavily.

"Next time, LISTEN TO ME when I tell you NOT to do something!"

I started the descent following the path laid out for me to a T. The Frontier began to shake violently as the gravity of the planet took hold and steadily increased our descending Speed. We very quickly got faster and faster until I noticed an orange glow creeping into the edges of the cockpit window as a firey cone began to engulf the Aircraft. It quickly became very hot inside the Aricraft to the point of me getting drenched in sweat. The flames only got brighter and brighter as I pushed farther into the planet's atmosphere.

"You're almost there, Riley. Just keep pushing!" Romulus reassured me.

"So... fucking...hot..." I coughed out as my grip on the Joy stick loosened due to heat exhaustion, and I began to drift off Course. I felt myself going limp and my eyes growing increasingly heavy.

"No, Riley! STAY AWAKE! Do not close your eyes! Stay awake!" Romulus demanded.

I shook my head and Ripped off my Helmet. The hud overlay on the cockpit window screen was still there, thankfully. I reached out my right hand and focused on a sigil. The front outside part of the Aircraft had a large sigil appear in front of it, spinning rapidly as I used the sigil to quickly disperse the flames over a wider area to lessen the heat.

I felt myself lurch forward in my seat, and the Speed of the craft decreased rapidly and suddenly.

"Okay, I remember that from science class. We just hit the troposphere and exited the stratosphere."

"Alright, Sir, the worst is behind you now. I can see the fireball effect dissipating. You'll be passing the upper layer of clouds shortly. Fly through a few to cool off the hull and bring it home."

Upon landing back at the forge, I felt a small wave of relief wash over me as I sat in the pilot's chair, turning off the engines and non-essential systems. After that, I got up and picked up my Helmet off the floor as I had tossed it away when I ripped it off mid-flight. I hung it on the same hook I had before and lowered the exit ramp at the back of the craft. I exited the Frontier and saw the large crowd of ponies in an uproar. My gaze naturally drifted to the Wonderbolts, who were moving in the air, mouths agape in shock. I shot them a wink and two finger guns as I slowly approached the crowd. Only to be intercepted by Romulus, who promptly slapped me across the face.

"Don't you EVER do some shit like that again!" he scolded.

"Romulus, relax, would you? Can't you see the bright side here? We have a semi-working pressure seal! We just gotta tinker and test it a little more, and we can go back up there whenever we want!" I said, rubbing my stinging cheek and putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, sure, sir, that's what you were saying five minutes ago when you were having a panic attack in the cockpit," Romulus stated.

"Hey! That was five minutes ago! I'm looking on the bright side now; you are the one being all negative!" I said with a smile, throwing an arm around his shoulder and walking towards the large crowd.

"By the elements, what am I gonna do with you?" He said, rubbing his metal face. "Whatever, Im still gonna scold you later! But for the sake of us being in front of the princesses, I'll keep quiet, Sir."

"Sounds good to me!"

Matchmaker

View Online

Shining Armor and I casually walked up to the Canterlot bar. We decided to go get some drinks a few days after my test flight. He thinks we're gonna do it responsibly; I plan on getting fucking Shit-faced wasted. Going up to the stars brought up a lot of shit in my head that needed to be put back into the box I hid it away in.

The door chimed with a small ding of a bell as we entered. The Unicorn bartender looked up from the glass he was polishing to see who came in, and a smile spread across his face.

"Ah! Two of my best drinkers! Please come in and take whatever seat you'd like." He greeted, setting the glass down.

Shining and I nodded and said hello as we sat at the bar.

"So, what'll it be, gents? The usuals?" He asked, propping himself on the counter using his front arm as he leaned towards us.

"Yup, I'll be having the usual," Shining responded.

"Same here, but they're gonna be triple shots tonight," I responded, getting a look from Shining Armor.

The bartender whistled as he began pouring our drinks. "Someone wants to get really messed up tonight."

"You got that right," I said as I took the glass of apple whisky and downed it in one gulp. Over the course of the last three months, I became quite a heavy drinker. Romulus says I'm overdoing it; I personally think I'm fine.

"I thought you said we were gonna do some casual social drinking tonight?" Shining asked as he sipped on his drink.

"Yeah, but tonight's form of casual for me is gonna hit just a tad bit harder." I laughed. Shining was still giving me that look and was not laughing. In fact, he raised an eyebrow.

"Alright, I'm not gonna bullshit you. When I went up to the stars the other day, it brought up some rather unhappy memories I wanna keep suppressed. I am planning on getting blackout drunk tonight. That's all I'll say," I said quickly and briefly.

Shining's face softened, and his stare eased off me. "You know you can talk about it if you need to."

"NO!" I Snapped. I quickly took a few deep breaths as I realized I shouted in the middle of the bar. "Not, not yet," I said hesitantly, taking a second freshly poured glass, sipping on it this time. Shining gave me a look of confusion for looking away from me and went back to sipping on his drink.

"So, you're planning on going to the Dragon lands tomorrow, right?" Shining asked casually.

"Yup, I need to. I promised the Princesses I'd talk with the dragon and get this whole killing and eating ponies thing stopped. Dragons don't do that like they have been without probable cause or some unknown factor. They hunt and eat meat, yes. But they usually don't eat sentient creatures." I responded.

"I wish you'd let somepony go with you. These are the dragons we're talking about here. Despite what you know or what you think you might know, these guys are still very dangerous." Shining stated.

I shook my head no. "Bringing a pony with me could ruin whatever chance I have of smoothing things over between the dragons and Equestria. My goal is to solve the problem, not risk making it worse."

"Still, it sounds way too risky to go alone." Shining re-stated.

"God, you sound like Romulus during my military days," I said, taking a long sip of my glass of apple whiskey. "I've done worse missions by myself before. Now, shush, I can feel my buzz coming on."

Three hours later

My head was resting on the side of the counter as I could barely stay in my seat from the amount of swaying I would do if I sat up. Around two dozen glasses sat around me on the counter. I was beyond fucked up.

"Another *HIC* one, mister!" I demeaned, my speech slurred beyond belief.

"I think you've had enough, son." The bartender said, looking down at me from behind the counter.

"Naaaah, I swear *HIC* this is the last one I *HIC* promise."

"That's what you said the last three times, son. Sorry, but I'm cutting you off." The bartender said as he walked away from me with the bottle of Apple whiskey I desperately craved.

"No youuuuuu sonofabitch!' I said, trying to pick myself up only to flop back onto the counter. Shining was sitting next to me with a disappointed expression, drinking a bottle of water. He stopped drinking booze over an hour and a half ago. But he stayed to keep an eye on me.

"This is bullshit!" I shouted, throwing one of the empty glasses across the bar in a drunken, childish fit of rage.

"Riley, for the love of Celestia, just stop. Let's just get you home already." Shining said, getting up from his chair and grabbing me with his magic.

"Nooooo I want more!" I contested, grabbing the counter and refusing to move.

"You can't. The bartender cut you off. Now stop being so difficult, and let's get out here and get you home." Shining's magic wrapped around me and began pulling on me, and still, I resisted. Gripping the counter even harder. Until, with a final strong yank, he broke my grip and pulled me off my chair. I flew backward and knocked into him. Sending us backward to a table with three stallions drinking Stallion. Their beers went flying, spilling all over them as the table fell over. They were not happy.

The three large stallions got up from their seats, wiping the still-dripping booze from their faces as they surrounded us.

"Now, now, fellows," Shining said, getting in between them and me in a protective stance. "It was an honest mistake. I'll pay to replace your drinks, no issue. We don't want any trouble. Plus, I don't think assaulting the commander of the royal guard would be a smart idea now, would it?"

The stallions looked at each other for a few minutes and back to Shining. They all snorted and nodded as they picked the table back up and went back to their seats. Shining quickly went, got a new set of drinks for them, and was right back on my side, heaving my arm over his shoulder.

"If you weren't acting like a child, we could have avoided that." He muttered under his breath as he carried me to the door.

I turned and looked at the bartender for a second. I then realized, even in my drunken state, that I hadn't paid yet for my drinks. I reached down and grabbed my bit pouch off my belt, and tossed it at him. "For the drinks, my good man!" I said as Shining hauled me out the door.

The second we walked outside, the cold midnight wind hit me in the face. And I was immediately struck with a wave of drowsiness that made me drop to my knees.

"Op, don't you pass out on me now, you little turd!" Shining grunted as he raised me back to my feet.

"It's fucking cold, dude! When it get cold, I get tired." I grumbled as I steadied myself with Shining's aid as we slowly kept walking. We walked for about ten minutes before we saw another pony walking towards us. We were in the middle of a four-way crossroads with a lamp post shining light down upon it. However, Shining noticed something I didn't about the random pony in front of us.

"Guardsmen, stand aside; we just want the two legger." The Stallion said in a deep voice. I looked to my left and right and saw two more ponies seemingly emerge from the late-night darkness.

"C'mon guys, Seriously?! I paid for the drinks and apologized!" Shining said, also noticing the ponies approaching from the sides.

"He didn't." The Stallion said, pointing to me. "Plus, this isn't his first offense with events like this at the bar."

Shining looked at me with confusion. "What?"

"Yeah, he's gotten into more than a few situations like this over the past few months. He drinks himself stupid, gets into something with another pony, and always worms his way out of it. Well, not this time. We were here to teach him a lesson on respect."

I started chuckling like a crazy man, which gave me a look from all the ponies around me. "Oh, you guys are SO fuckin funny! The fact you all could quote 'teach' me anything is hilarious!"

Shining elbowed me in the gut and whispered. "Shut up, man!" While gritting his teeth.

"You think we're joking, punk?!" One of the other stallions said.

"Oh, no. I know you guys are serious, and you intend to try and hurt me. It's just with my extensive military background, I doubt you all could do anything." I said, earning another elbow from Shining. "Motherfucker I'll hurt you if you elbow me again!"

"That's it, times up! Rush 'em, boys!" The lead Stallion said as all three of the ponies charged us.

I took a deep breath, lifted myself off of Shining, and steadied myself. This was gonna be rough.

The lead Stallion was tackled away by Shining armor, leaving me open to the two guys rushing me from the left and right. I turned and clenched my fist as I decked the one to my right in the side of the jaw. His face turned to one of surprise as my hit sent him down to the ground. I guess he didn't expect me to hit so hard. I felt the hooves of the other go under my arms, spread my arms, and pull me back. He had me in a lock. The other pony got up and started wailing on me. Face, face, chest, face, chest chest, face.

"Alright, fuckers!" I said as I pushed off the ground with my legs and wrapped them around the neck of the pony in front of my head. "You asked for this!" I forcibly twisted my body and spiraled it. Sending all of us in this mess to the ground using what would have looked like a double-man takedown move from a spy movie. I rolled away and got to my feet, two ponies standing in front of me, ready to continue.

In my head, though. I felt something switch. I was still drunk for sure, but I felt like I had help. My vision wasn't as blurry, and my thoughts actually had a train to ride. And my movements didn't feel as slow and sluggish. But it also felt strange. Like a second set of hands were on the controls guiding me. When the two ponies rushed me again, I jumped up and spun my body into a double kick, hitting both ponies in the face as it sent them stumbling back a few steps.

I rushed the closer one, throwing a jab right at his nose to daze him even farther. Then, I hit him with a left hook followed by a quick right jab and then dropped low with a wide leg sweep to hit his front hooves.

The other one tackled me away right as the one I was assaulting fell forward. We tumbled each other until he stood atop me, with both hooves pinning me to the ground as they drilled into my shoulders. I could smell the sheer stench of apple cider coming from his mouth. I tucked my legs in and pressed the knees and shin against his belly and pushed with all my drunken might as I tried to roll backward onto my head. Which barely worked as I pushed him off me onto his back; I looked at him upside down for a second, then quickly got back to my feet. I looked over and saw the other Stallion had gotten up and was rushing me. I looked up and noticed the metal arm and light of the lamppost above me and the pole behind me. I had an idea.

I stepped to the side, dodging the Stallion's charge, and grabbed his Mane. I shoved him using all the momentum he built up and my additional force to ram him into the pole. The quiet night echoed with a metal clang as I heard his skull clash with the metal of the pole. The poor bastard went limp but was still breathing. I only knocked him out, which was good.

The other guy, though, was up and pinned me against the pole next to his fallen comrade. I interlocked my fingers and raised my arms as I slammed down onto the back of the Stallion's neck. He made a loud 'ack' as I unlaced my fingers and did a twin karate chop from both sides towards his neck. The hits made contact and he choked from it. I delivered a powerful uppercut under his chin, which made him turn his head up and ended with a downward overhead hook that sent him to the pavement, out cold.

I stood tall and found Myself breathing heavily and sweating. I rubbed my head to wipe the sweat and saw blood on my hand when I finished. I reached my hand up to my head again and found a cut on the upper right side of my head, just above the eye.

"Oh shit. Fuckers made me bleed. They gave me a run for my money, that's for sure. *HIC*" I said aloud.

"Tell me about it." I heard Shining say as he walked over, dragging the leader stallion behind him with his magic as he threw him with the rest of his buddies. Shining had a bruise on his face and a couple of scraps. Otherwise, he was fine. "I'm surprised you held up as well as you did, considering you THAT drunk." He added.

It was right then that whatever mental support I had faded, and I fell to my knees in my original drunken state. "I dunno, man. I just started fighting, and *HIC* I just started winning *HIC*" I said with Horribly slurred speech.

Shining shook his head as he walked over and threw my arm over his shoulder. "C'mon, let's get you home."

He carried me another few blocks as we approached the Canterlot gateway into the courtyard, the public access one anyway. Over to the fair left, I noticed a group of five or so ponies in a well-organized group. One in the middle with four heavily armored guards around her. I knew it was a mare in the middle because she was way less covered and had a more feminine hairstyle with pink, purple, and what I thought was yellow striped Mane.

"Shining, *HIC* what's goin' on over yonder THAT away?" I asked drunkenly, pointing over at the group of ponies approaching the main castle entrance.

Shining sighed and looked over where I was pointing. Suddenly, his eyes went wide. "That's Princess Cadence! Or Princess Mi Amore Cadeneza, as you heard from Celestia a few times. And She's back from her trip early! She's probably sneaking into the castle under nightfall to avoid the swarms of ponies welcoming her back after a stressful trip." He said, his expression softening as he admired her, as we started sauntering while he stared at her with a stupid-looking lovey-dovey expression.

"Do I spot a *HIC* hardcore royal crush from the Captain of the royal guard to a *HIC* Princess?" I said drunkenly and Jokingly.

"Yeah, honestly. I wish I could date her." He said as he still gazed upon her.

Suddenly, I had an idiotic drunk Idea.

"HEEEEEY! PRINCESS AMORGUS CANDYASS!" I shouted, totally butchering her name in my drunk state while putting my left hand close to my mouth for a better projection of my voice. Shining snapped out of his trance and looked at me with almost horror.

"Riley, for the love of Celestia and all that is good in the world. Please shut up!" He whispered and yelled. But it was too late.

The Princess turned to look at me, waving her down while the guards did the same. I Put my hand back to my mouth and yelled. "HE LIKES YOUR BUTT!" While following up with a very expressive pointing motion at Shining Armor. After which, I got a very painful elbow to my side. His face was bright red, blushing hard and telling me to shut up. However, that did not stop me.

"DID YOU HERE ME! I SAID, SHINING ARMOR LIKES YOUR BUTT-" I got another swift elbow, but this time to my stomach, which caused me to vomit violently. Then, Shining began to drag me away very quickly through the gate. "FUCKER, I TOLD YOU WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF YOU ELBOWED ME AGAIN!" I yelled, socking him in the jaw.

After a small fight scuffle, which was ended by him floating me above him in the air with magic, when we arrived at the forge, Shining knocked a few times, and Romulus answered the door. He looked at Shining's pissed-off expression and then looked up at me, levitating in his magic with my arms crossed and pouting.

Romulus crossed his arms and facepalmed while shaking his head. "Bring him and toss him on the couch. By the Elements." Romulus said as he turned away and walked back inside. Shining walked in, and I floated in after him before getting unceremoniously dumped onto the couch. Upon contact, I made a grunt, followed by the relaxing feeling of the very comfortable couch. I could hear Romulus and Shining talking, but I couldn't care less and couldn't really understand it. After a few minutes, I heard a door shut. That's when my hearing kicked in, although I only recognized one of the voices briefly before the door closed.

"Oh! Princess Cadence! Fancy meeting you here-" That's when the door shut. Eager to hear the drama, I got rolled off the couch and quickly crawled towards the door. Only to be stopped by Romulus standing in front of me.

"Nuh-uh! You're not going anywhere like this, sir." He said, reaching down to grab me.

I swatted his hand away and said, "I'm not leaving. *HIC* I wanna listen in on that conversation."

"Oh, in that case." He lifted me up and laid me on the counter next to one of the opening service windows we used to take work orders. He grabbed a small rope and pulled it slightly. The window opened just enough for me to get a good view of the conversation. The guards were standing rough five yards away, and Shining Armor and Cadence were face to face.

"Yeah, I know. Look, I'm sorry about him a little bit ago. He is very drunk and needs to sleep it off." Shining said, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

Princess Cadence had one hell of a voice whenever she spoke. "Apology accepted. But I feel there was some truth to what he said."

Shining armor stepped back and blushed hard. "Huh!? I would never-" Shining tried to say but was hushed by the Princess's hoof pressing against his mouth.

"I'm not dumb, Captain, or shall I call you Shining? Either way, I am the Princess of love. I know the signs when I see it. And you hid them just as well as a yak in a palace. I've been just waiting for you to make the first move before I said anything."

Shining's eyes widened at her words as her hoof slowly drifted away. "Does that mean you're interested?" He asked slowly.

"Yes, if I'm gonna be blunt, VERY much so yes." She responded.

Shining's Expression shifted, and he cocked a slight smirk. "Well, in that case, Do you wanna go for dinner at the old grilled vegetable joint off South Vanderhoof? I heard you've been wanting to check it out."

Cadence gasped in both surprise and admiration. "Of course! How did you know?" She asked.

"I may or may not have been trading with the guards that chaperone you for tips on what you might be interested in," he answered with a nervous smile as he rubbed the back of his head again.

"How clever and sly of you, Shiny. Say we go tomorrow after I meet your friend in there when he's sober? I've been so excited to meet him based on the letters Princess Celestia sent me on my trip." Cadence asked.

"Sounds like a date! Although I will mention he does have a trip to the Dragon Lands planned tomorrow despite everyone's objections." He added.

Cadence's eyes widened at his remark. "What reason would he have to go THERE?" She asked, baffled.

"It's... a long story," Shining Responded.

Cadence resumed her royal posture before she spoke again. "Well, in that case, you can fill me in on all the details while you escort me to my room in the castle, Captain?" She said as she planted a kiss on Shining's cheek. Causing him to blush hard.

"Yes, Ma'am." He said in a dazed state from the kiss.

"AH-HAH! SUCCESS MOTHERFUCKERS!" I screamed, causing both their gazes to fall on me instantly. "SHIT, CLOSE THE WINDOW!" I whispered yelled as Romulus did so.

I could hear the muffled laughs of the two ponies through the wall. Causing me to giggle as well.

"Alright, that's enough, sir. It's time to go to bed." Romulus said as he picked me up like my dad used to when I would fall asleep in the carriage back home and put me in my bed.

"Hahaha, I have succeeded in getting another friend a date by being as stupid as possible!" I said triumphantly as Romulus tucked me in.

"Yes sir, that you did. Now go to sleep." He said, leaving the room.

"Sir, yes, sir!" I responded. Knocking out after a solid minute.

Here be... not Dragons?

View Online

I woke up slowly, feeling very groggy and sore with a massive headache. I sat up slowly as my back and chest ached as well. I wiped the eye crusties from my eyes and dragged myself to the bathroom to relieve myself and run a shower. I didn't drink coffee as I never liked the taste, so a shower was the next best thing, for me at least. I looked at myself in the mirror as the water heated up and saw a cut above my right brow, stitched up nicely, along with several bruises along my chest, back, and face. I tried to remember what had happened the night before, but it was all a blur. The main thing I remember was being happy from Shining Armor for some reason.

I finished up in the shower and headed towards the Kitchen as I was very hungry. I flung my damp, warm towel over my shoulder and walked into the Kitchen without a shirt since I didn't feel the need for it.

The Kitchen was tucked into the back corner as it wrapped around to the left from the hallway that led to the master bedroom I had just emerged from. It had an island countertop in the middle with a sink, dishwasher, and seating for four on the outer side closer to the living room. The wrapping around the counter had the usual stove and oven combo mixed with the upper and lower cabinets. I put together some of the usual counter devices like a blender, toaster, microwave, Etc. The fridge was closest to the hallway as it was just around the corner.

I cracked open the fridge and grabbed a gallon of milk, some eggs, and some pancake mix from the cabinet next to it. Along with the stuff to make French toast. I was HUNGRY hungry and wanted a big breakfast. I started humming to myself as I cranked on the stove and got to cooking.

"Computer!" I said as the built-in speakers and the walls dinged in response. "Play my morning rock' n' roll playlist." A few moments later, some casual rock was playing over the speakers at a low volume, which I quickly began mumbling and singing along to, with a short burst of air guitar playing mix in between here and there.

"Good morning Ri-Ri." (Rye-Rye) Shining said, scaring the shit outa me and causing me to drop the skillet pan I was grabbing out of the cabinet. It landed on my foot, causing me to yelp in pain.

"GOD DAMN SONOFA BITCH!" I yelled, hoping around on one foot, holding the one I dropped the pan on. I quickly cast a healing sigil over my foot, numbing the pain as it quickly healed. I saw Romulus, Shining Armor, and a pink alicorn mare that looked very familiar, all sitting in the living room sipping on tea, save for Romulus. The ponies were on the couch, and Romulus was in my recliner. All of them now laughing. I don't know how I didn't notice them before.

"DON'T fucking do that!" I said angrily as I leaned over and picked up the skillet pan on the floor.

"Sorry, I just didn't wanna interrupt your jam session," Shining said, chuckling.

"You know, you coulda said something at any time during that," I said, pointing at Romulus.

"And miss THAT reaction, absolutely not!" Romulus laughed, along with the rest of them. Save for the alicorn's giggle as she looked me over oddly.

"I must admit, Riley, I didn't expect someone talked so fondly of having so many... Scars." She said openly.

My face went blank and emotionless as I reached out my hand and cast a sigil of telekinesis as a shirt flew out the hallway and into my hand. I sat my towel down on the island counter and put on my shirt. I turned my back to them as I saw Shining lean over and whisper something into the alicorn's ear, causing her to flinch and her eyes widen.

"OH, my Apologies Riley! Ahm, I didn't know they were a sensitive topic." She quickly and apologetically.

"It's fine. You didn't know." I said emotionlessly. I took a deep breath and suppressed the quelling memories of how I got a few of those scars. "Anyway, do y'all want some breakfast? I make some pretty killer pancakes." I said, sounding cheerful.

"That would be delightful," The alicorn responded. "Although I and Shining are probably going to eat lightly since we have a date at the Golden Carrot, an old veggie grill and bar place I've been dying to eat at!"

The mention of the veggie place clicked something in my head as the ending memories of the last night filled it. "OH! Your princess Cadance! I am so sorry I didn't recognize you. I have the biggest hangover right now, and I forgot the majority of last night."

Shining rolled his eyes, and Cadance giggled. "Oh, it's quite fine. From what I heard from Shining last night, you went pretty over the top compared to your usual drinking."

Not thinking of anything worthy to say, I shrugged my shoulders and plated the first batch of pancakes. "So, you said date earlier. Does that mean I succeeded last night?"

"Succeeded in what?" Shining asked.

"doing the dumbest, most retarded shit possible to get two people to hook up or date?" I responded, causing Cadance, and shortly following, Shining to laugh.

"Yes, I guess we can say you succeeded, Riley," Cadance said, still giggling.

"Yes!" I said, doing a fist pump. "That's three times that's worked now! Another slew of giggles followed.

"You know, you are way more funny than Shining said you were," Cadance said. I began making my plate of French toast, eggs, and pancakes.

"Hey, I just like making people smile, okay? It's what I do." I said, smiling, giving a mini bow.

I plated all the food and gave two ponies their plates of pancakes. At the same time, I sat down on the couch across from them with my massive plate of food.

"Sheesh, Riley. You sure you're gonna eat all of that?" Shining asked as he eyed the plate nervously.

I took a fork full of syrup-drizzled pancake and shoved it in my mouth. "Oh yeah, I got a severe case of the munchies right now. Plus, it's still missing half the protein since you guys don't eat or process pork meat." I responded while chewing. "God, I miss bacon and sausage."

Shining Armor and Cadance both began eating their food and complimented me on the taste. Which I took humbly. While we ate, we went back and forth as we all talked. It was a rather peaceful morning, which felt unusual to me the whole time. Considering my mornings over the past fifteen years were either fear of dying, constant Fighting, or nonstop work.

After eating, Romulus took care of the dishes and recommended I get ready for my departure.

"Good call," I responded, getting up and heading to the back room to put on my flight suit, and the two ponies followed me.

"I still don't like you going alone, no matter how much you say you know dragons. I've seen some pretty nasty dragons up close in the past. They don't seem like the ones you've talked about, Riley." Shining said as he leaned against the doorway.

Cadance agreed with him. "Yes, the dragons of the dragon lands, in particular, are a very ferocious and violent offset of dragons in particular. And Dragonlord Torch is not one for conversation, so I've heard."

"Guys, relax. I know what I'm doing." I responded, finishing buckling on my chest piece, grabbing my Helmet, and tucking it under my arm. "Besides, who can resist my fantabulous charm?" I joked as I walked past the two ponies.

We all headed out to the courtyard where The Frontier sat on the landing pad. Romulus was standing by the boarding ramp with a large backpack in one of his hands and my father's sword in the other. I took the backpack and slung it over my shoulder but put my hand up when he tried to hand me the sword.

"Not this time, Romulus. Taking more weapons to meet these dragons might end up causing more conflict than I want to." I said, pushing his hand holding the sword away.

"Sir, I understand your reasoning, but I still HIGHLY recommend you take the Blade of Merlin with you. It's a powerful magical artifact that could come in useful in case things turn sour." Romulus said, still continuing to offer the sword.

"Romulus, you of ALL people I know should know that won't happen. You and I have been around dragons all our lives. Hell, the Queen of Dragons was practically a second mom to me." I retorted, still refusing to take the sword.

"Very true, sir. But with what Celestia has told me AND has shown me from previous pony and dragon interactions. I think it's in your BEST interest to be prepared for the worst. Please just take the sword, just so I can feel a little bit more comfortable about this trip." Romulus retorted.

I sighed and took the sword from his hand. "If It'll make you feel better, I'll take it with me. But don't expect me to wear it when I meet Dragon lord torch."

"Never expected you to," Romulus said, putting his hands behind his back as he walked away.

I turned to Shining and Cadance. "I'll be back by sundown at the latest. Don't worry. Everything will be fine." I Assured them as I put on my Helmet.

"You better. Or I'll march into the dragonlands and drag you back myself!" Shining said with a joking determination.

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"You're roughly thirty minutes out from the dragon lands, sir," Romulus said over the radio. "It might be best if you go relax and prepare yourself for the meeting you have ahead. Perhaps take a shirt catnap?" He suggested.

"Alrighty then. Go ahead and take the wheel then. I'm always down for a nap." I said, letting go of the controls; the joystick moved by itself as the craft held its course. Then, the pilot's seat moved backward away from the dash, allowing me to get up and walk about the aircraft cabin.

"Very well, sir. I'll guide us in." Romulus responded.

I went to the back area and pressed a button that opened the wall opposite the lockers to reveal a small bed built into the wall of the craft. I took off my Helmet, hung it on a nearby hook, and crawled into the space. Laying down on the bed. I found myself deep in thought about the coming meeting rather than actually sleeping. I thought about the different ways this meeting could go, good or bad. But considering my past history with dragons. I was confident that nothing bad was gonna happen, Despite the warning from all the ponies and now Romulus. I don't know what these ponies could have done to piss off the dragons in the first place. But surely it couldn't be that bad, right? Eventually, I managed to tire myself braindead from thinking so hard and passed out.

When I awoke, it wasn't gentle. I was thrusted out of bed and dinked my forehead on the metal roof of the cubbie as it was hit really hard by something, causing it to spiral out of control.

I rolled out of the cubbie, which was a stupid idea in hindsight. All I ended up doing was bouncing off the walls of the inside of the Frontier with loud metal clanks. I got hit with my own Helmet a few times as it was thrown off the hook and bounced around as well.

"Romulus!" I said right before I hit another wall during our downward spiral. "Whats- ow- happening!"

"Something hit our right wing and sent us into a spiral! Give me a moment; I can regain control!" Romulus said as the craft slowly began to pull itself out of the death spiral and even out. I landed on the metal floor with a loud clang, my Helmet landing not too far away. I rushed to my feet and leaned low to grab my Helmet on the way to the pilot's seat. I plopped my ass in the seat and got situated.

"Romulus, give me the wheel and run a threat assessment! I need to know what's attacking us." I said, gripping the thrust control and flight joystick as the seat moved into position. I gazed out the window at a land of ash, lava, and volcanos.

"Understood, sir!" Romulus said as the craft returned to my control. I opened my radar screen and overlapped it onto my head like a videogame. Right as it finished booting, a red dot was on top of us and slammed into The Frontier. This time, it hit the top part of the left wing, sending the craft into another death spiral.

"Whatever this thing is, It's fast and hits hard!" I stated aloud as I tried to wrangle the Aircraft back under my control.

"Sir, you don't have enough time nor altitude to regain control! Eject!" Romulus yelled. My eyes darted to look at the altitude meter and the rapidly approaching ground.

"Not gonna happen, Romulus. Im not losing this thing after we worked so hard to fix it." I said, looking at all the controls, trying to think of something fast!

I grabbed hold of the thurst stick and pulled back as far as I could, setting the Frontier into hover mode. "Romulus, reroute emergency power to the hoverjets and set it to fire in a compressed burst for ten seconds!" I ordered.

"Roger that, sir!" Romulus responded.

I looked out the sides of the cockpit window to see the large disc-like thrusters gather energy into condensed balls and fire it into a large and incredibly bright cone towards the ground. I lurched forward from the sudden decrease in speed. The craft began to slowly pull up and level out. But it wasn't enough to stop it completely, as it skipped off the ground like a stone over a lake from the forward momentum it still had from the fall. I was shaken and thrown around in my seat before the flight straps tightened and sucked me to the seat. The craft skipped off the ground twice before it managed to stabilize and hover in the air, allowing me to land it.

I sat there in the chair for a little while to catch my breath and let the adrenaline die down. "Holy shit!" I said, lightly chuckling. The seat moved backward once more so I could get up and move to the back of the Aircraft.

"Romulus, what's the word on our attacker?" I asked.

"Nothing on what it could so far, sir. But I do know it's nearby and closing in on your position fast." Romulus retorted.

"Great, just what I needed today," I said as I pulled the lever that lowered the rear boarding ramp. I walked outside into the firey, molten, volcano-filled expanse that was the Dragon Lands. It was hot, extremely hot.

"Yup. I don't know why I expected anything different. Lots of fire, lots of ash, and A LOT of lava." I said as I took my first step onto the soil, which was warm even through my metal boots.

As if on queue, something fast and blue struck the ground with such force that they shook violently and threw a tone of dirt into the air. Once it all came back down to earth. A large, scaley, bipedal figure stood rising from a kneeling position. The sides of her head had large white horns that curved downward and hooked upward on the end. Her face had a long protruding snout that ended with a curve like a beak, with rows of pointed teeth showing via a smirk. Large dark blue wings extended from its back, slowly retracting to a more compact position behind its back. Its eyes shone a bright blood red with sharp fangs bore with anger.

"Are you the one fucking with my Aircraft?" I shouted, taking another few steps forward.

"You're trespassing in dragon territory." The creature said in a feminine voice. "Since you're not a pony, and the hunk of metal withstood more than one of my attacks. I'll give you one chance to turn and leave." She said viciously with a smile, showing more of her teeth.

"Alright, well, that's not gonna happen. I've got a meeting with Dragonlord Torch, and some pipsqueak two-legged dragon wannabe is not gonna get in my way."

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!" She shouted in anger. "IM AS MUCH OF A DRAGON AS THE REST OF THE CLOWNS AROUND HERE!"

"Okay, number one. Dragons aren't bipedal, so you are already not off to a good start. Two, dragons aren't this aggressive right off the bat, as they are wise and humble knowledge-holders who resort to violence as a last resort. And three, your scales are plain old blue. They don't shine like gemstones, like the dragons I have back home. Fourth, let's be honest: you are way too small. Sorry to say, little lady, but you are as far from a dragon as you could possibly get."

The Dragon wannabe Shouted in rage and dashed towards me at a speed I couldn't comprehend. She put her fist in my Helmet and launched me backward, tumbling head over heel. My Helmet shattered on impact, and I felt the concussive force of the punch and vibrated with pain. My back impacted the rising wall from a broken fault some thirty yards away. Which also hurt like hell. I picked up my head and rubbed it while looking back at the figure who had just launched me down the field with one punch. She had turned around now and was gloating about how weak I was to the dozen or so other figures they were around the ridgeling cheer at her violent nature. It really pissed me off that these dragon wannabes were so into violence like it was a sport. It sickened me that they would even dare lay claim to the title ' Dragon.'

I stumbled to my feet and focused my mind. I looked inward to see a lot of dormant enchantments embedded into my body and muscles from my time in the war. I had the best magics put these enchantments in my to feed off my mental magic capacity so I could stand on par with the magically drug-fueled enemy. Slowly but surely, I reactivated each enchantment one by one. I felt myself get stronger and faster by the second.

"Okay, fuckhead! You wanna go?! LET'S FUCKING GO THEN!" I shouted. Stomping my foot down onto a fire sigil I placed and dashed forward. The sigil causing a concentrated explosion gave me that extra boost. I closed the gap between me and the beast within a few bounds before I clocked back a punch. One of the beasts on the ridge pointed and warned the blue one of me. She turned just in to see my fist plant itself into the side of her face with a loud smack. She was sent tumbling on her side about the same distance she sent me. Only she dug her claws into the earth to slow herself and looked back at me with surprise and anger.

"You wanted to fight!" I taunted as I began to circle the beast. "I'm Ready when you are! You're facing the general of an army! The one that turned the tide of war in his people's favor! Not some diplomatic politician come to talk peace with the dragon lord on Ponykind's behalf. So come at me!"

The beast took my challenge and rushed me at the same speed she did before. However, thanks to my now reactivated bodily enchantments, I could comprehend her movements now. I met her speed and brought back my fist as she did. Our punches met in a clash that caused a small shockwave to ripple the dirt and throw up dest around us. We stared into each other's eyes, hers with a wildfire of rage and mine with a determination to put her in the ground.

She swiped with her other arm, claws extended as she slashed my face. Causing me to reflexively step back. My hand shot to my face to stop the blood oozing out of the fresh cuts. She continued her assault and threw multiple blows into my midsection. Causing me to go onto the defensive. But as She attacked, I studied how she fought. She knew to turn her whole body into each punch but didn't know the proper weak points. She went for the chest and face primarily. She knew how to fight but not where to land her hits to do the most damage. Meaning she either lacked experience or the fights she'd had before were too easy. She didn't know how much experience I had, though. And she was about to learn very quickly.

I Caught one of her hands by the wrist during one of her punches, catching her off guard as I pulled her body downward. Bringing my knee to meet her chest. She stumbled backward, and I continued my counterattack. I did two quick jabs to her face and two underhand blows to her chest. Punching her scales felt like punching rock. But I tempered my knuckles by fighting robotic specters of the model Romulus uses. I barely felt pain in my knuckles anymore.

I turned and spun my body into the air and, planted a kick into her face and sent her a few feet back. I dashed forward and delivered a jumping uppercut before she could recover. She fell over onto her back, dazed.

"You lack technique." I mocked. "You have power and speed but lack the skill to use it effectively. I have been tempered by years of war. Fighting is second nature for me. And so far, the only thing you've managed to do is piss me off."

She got to her feet and looked at me with burning rage. She opened her mouth and yelled to the sky as her wings spread outward. She brought her head down swiftly as a piercing bolt of fire shot from her maw towards me. She surprised me as I didn't expect her to breathe fire, and I was too close to dodge. I brought my arms up around my face and upper chest in an X shape just in time to block the blast of fire. The point of the blast exploded on contact. Sending me off my feet and tumbling over myself backward once again. The following stream of fire engulfed my body in flames. I quickly and desperately covered my body in a fire protection enchantment. But there was a silver lining to the firey attack. It cauterized the cuts on my face, so I didn't have to keep wiping my own blood from my eyes.

Eruptng from the stream of fire, the beast in flight on her wings gripped her claws around my throat and flew low to the ground. Forcefully Dragging me through the smoldering rock and dirt. Pain flew across my body like a river of daggers and fire ripping at my flesh. I couldn't think straight due to sensory overload. I Only found myself shortly after being thrown through the air and bouncing off the ground next to a river of lava.

"How's that for lack of technique!?" The beast shouted in blissful anger, landing roughly twenty yards from me.

I slowly stumbled to my feet as I regained control of my senses. "Yup, you leniently bruisers, alright," I grumbled, popping my back. "But that's not technique. That's overwhelming brute force. There is a difference. I guess you don't have the smarts to go with your brawn either, huh?" I mocked, spitting blood onto the ground with a small smirk.

"Why you little-!" She shouted, sending another blast of fire my way.

I was ready for it this time. I threw up a sigil of fire that caught the blast of flame and condensed it into a disc, which I spun and rebounded back toward her. She easily sidestepped it and laughed.

"Was that supposed to be impressive-" Her sentence was cut short by the flaming disc hitting her in the back and exploding. Knocking her forward roughly ten yards and landing her on her stomach. I had telekinetically controlled the disk to come back and hit her in the back since I knew she would have easily dodged the frontward attack. I put two more sigils on my fist as the flowing lava from the river behind me shot outward and wrapped itself around my fists like molten gauntlets with hardened slag on the knuckles. I rushed her as she got to her feet and unleashed a brutal onslaught of blows that knocked a few scales off her with each hit. She tried to counterattack, but I could easily read her attacks now I knew the extent of her fist-fighting knowledge. I repeatedly hit her blow for blow, forcing her to stumble backward with each hit.

She suddenly extended her wings and took to the skies. She looped backward and dove straight at me with her claws outstretched, followed by a blast of fire like before. I couldn't help myself but shake my head in disappointment.

"Just because it worked the first time," I paused to put an earth rune on the ground and stomped on it right before she made contact. A large five-foot thick wall of stone erupted from the ground. Causing her fire blast and herself to hit it instead of me. "DOESN'T MEAN IT WILL WORK A SECOND!" I shouted. I followed up by Kicking the wall with another earth rune, sending it and her into a rising fifty-foot ridge line thirty yards back with a loud crash and crunch of stone. A large cloud of dirt and dust filled the air after the impact.

I used another fire dash sigil and propelled myself into the cloud of dust, locking at her position by using another sigil to scan for her life force. I smashed my fist into her chest, embedding her further into the rocky ridge wall. I Hit her with another few blows to the face and chest. Until I grabbed her by the throat with my left hand and slowly pulled her from the stone. She grabbed and clawed at my left hand furiously, her teeth seething with rage. I felt the heat building up in her throat, to which I responded by tightening my grip around her neck. Causing her to choke and cough up smoke.

I brought my right hand back, clenching it into a tight fist with its makeshift magma gauntlet still on. I focused on another sigil, attaching it to my elbow as a rocket flame erupted from the center circle on the sigil. My arm shot forward with great force from the rocket rune. The punch impacted the tip of her snout, breaking her nose with a crack and causing a lot of blood to spill out from her nostrils.

I let go of her throat, letting her drop to her knees with a thud as she gripped her face. Her claws shot up to her snout, which was absolutely pissing blood. She looked down at her blood-covered hands in wide-eyed shock, breathing shakily.

"What? Never seen your own blood before? Or is this the first fight you've had where somebody fucked you up enough that you bled this much?" I asked, looking down at her as I shook off the spells keeping my magma gauntlets on. Causing them to drip off my hands and leave the undamaged metal flight suit gloves.

She looked up at me slowly, her eyes narrowing in rage and her hands clenching and began to shake. She gritted her teeth and dug her claws into the dirt.

"You should learn to SHUT UP!" She shouted while throwing two handfuls of sand, ash, and dirt into my face. A lot of it got in my eyes, blinding me as I stumbled backward.

"ACK! You cheap, dirty fighting bitch!" I yelled angrily, trying to rub the shit from my eyes.

I suddenly felt what felt like a bear trap clamp onto my right shoulder; pointed edges dug into my flesh through the gaps in the metal plating on my shoulders. Whatever clamped down started thrashing me around. Smashed me against rocks and dirt rapidly and violently. I could feel sharp daggerlike objects in my shoulder shaking about, causing me severe pain and agony with each impact.

I was then flung upward into the air, and a set of hands shoved against my chest and stayed there applying force. My arms and legs dragged downward awkwardly, and I felt the wind at my back, and I could hear the wind whistling in my ears. I used an earth rune to pull the dirt and dust from my eyes, and when I opened them, I gazed into the eyes of the beast. And behind her was the ground, several thousand feet below and getting smaller by the second. She was carrying me high into the sky, probably using her ability to fly to her advantage as she saw I couldn't fly by myself.

I reached around and gripped her horns with my hands and yanked her head forward while raising my knee to meet her face. Sending her backward and releasing me into a freefall. She didn't skip a beat and flapped her wings, diving toward me. Building up momentum, she punched me so hard it sent me spinning through the air as I fell. She turned and wrapped around, doing it again and again as I fell.

I looked around rapidly, trying to find a way to get this flying spicy salamander to fuck off and give me a chance to not die from falling. The ground was rapidly approaching, and I saw the bellowing ash cloud of a nearby volcano.

"Fuck it, I can make it work," I said as I focused a sky and fire rune into a sigil, extending my arm outward towards the bellowing cloud of smoke and ash. I thought of the explanation I gave Twilight on how Lightning is just a massive static charge from the molecules in the clouds rubbing against each other. This time, I imagined the smoke and ash instead of the molecules. It is not as effective as water molecules but is still doable. Small flashes of white light appeared in the black cloud as I focused as hard as I could.

The beast struck me again, sending me spiraling. I barely managed to maintain a hold on the spell. The white sparks grew brighter as I felt the energy surge to the peak I was aiming for. I turned myself in the air, my back facing the ground as the beast dove towards me head-on.

"Hey, Fuckhead!" I shouted, extending my arm out and spreading my fingers like claws as a lightning run appeared in my hand. The beast seemed unphased at my remark and kept diving head-on as she pulled back her fist.

"LIGHTEN THE FUCK UP!" I added as I swung my hand at her like I was trying to scratch her with a thunderous boom. Lightning shot out from the bellowing smog cloud of the volcano and struck her in the side with a bright flash and a much louder crackling boom. I barely heard her screams, and she shot off toward the ground about a mile away from me in a trail of smoke.

I quickly spun myself around to face the ground, not bothering to watch the beast land. I saw I was much closer to the ground now and that I didn't have a lot of time, maybe less than a minute. I stuck out my arms with two fire sigils, bellowing roaring streaks of fire from them. I felt the force push me enough to where I could get my legs under me and do the same sigils on my feet. Slowing my fall even more. But, sadly, it wasn't enough.

My legs hit the ground with such force that I felt my ankles crack and break. I tried to push myself into a parkor roll recovery. But I didn't have enough push-off from my legs to do so and ended up slamming my right shoulder into the ground. Which made me scream in pain and go limp there, followed by groveling in pain with my face in the dirt.

I sat there for maybe a few minutes before slowly sitting up. I looked at my shoulder since it was throbbing in a tremendous amount of pain. I found a large bite mark oozing with blood. It held the shape of the snout of the dragon-wannabe I was just fighting. I quickly and promptly concluded that the bear trap I felt close around my shoulder was the beast biting into me with her vicious fangs. I threw up a healing sigil to stop the bleeding and focused on my leg. I crawled around, gathering up large rocks and setting them close together. I placed my already swelling ankles in them while grabbing a rock to bite onto in preparation for the pain of resetting the bones.

I quickly reset my ankle bones using the rocks as a makeshift holder and stabilizer. I threw my healing sigil onto my ankles as soon as it was over to numb the pain and jumpstart the healing process. I let the magic do its thing and slowly got to my feet. It ached and hurt like hell, but I could move again. I hobbled my way back to where the Frontier was but was stopped in my tracks when a familiar roar of anger echoed out from the skies above.

I looked up and saw the beast fly into view and land about ten yards away from me. But she was definitely hurt. When she landed, she stumbled and nearly fell while clutching her left side with her left claw. Her side was bubbled and nasty with blisters and burnt tissue that stretched around to her chest, back, and part of her neck. Arcing black lines like that of a lightning bolt stretched out from a single point under her hand where the bolt of Lightning I stuck her with landed. She stared at me with a tired yet hate-filled expression.

"Not a fan of lightning, huh?" I laughed as I stumbled, leaning against a rock for support.

"Not a fan of falling, huh?" She shot back, snarling. "I'll give you this, outsider. You've definitely got bigger stones than I thought you would. But I think it's time we ended this." She added, taking her hand off her injured side and entering a fighting stance.

"Couldn't agree with you more," I responded, doing the same. "However, I will warn you. I won't play fair now, not after that cheap shot with the dirt." I added.

She smiled and flared her wings out and flapped them while dashing at me, giving her a boost, Just like I thought she would. I turned to my side, still looking at her, while I quickly put together another sigil. Channeling the excess fire elemental energy into it. I summoned two flaming copies of my right arm mere inches away from the original, copying and mimicking its every move. I then conjured a sky sigil spell and sent a sonic burst at the beast. The air-warping shockwave hit her and stopped her mid-air with a small boom. I jumped forward and brought my right arm and its flaming copies to her chest and slammed her backward into a rock. Which cracked on impact but did not break.

I shook off the spell, giving myself two extra arms, and pressed the attack. Ignoring the pain in my ankles. She had just pried herself from the rock and saw my approach. She threw a punch at me, which I sidestepped. Grabbing hold of her wrist and pulling it forward. I raised up my elbow and forcefully dropped it into her elbow joint, followed by a loud cracking of bones. Her arm snapped, her elbow bending in the wrong direction, causing her to scream in pain. Which was promptly silenced by a uppercut to her jaw.

I threw two more jabs at her snout and dropped low, sweeping her legs and causing her to fall face-first onto the floor. Jumped on her back, grabbed one of her legs, and pulled it upward while sitting on her back. I contorted my body and twisted, hearing a crack from her leg that caused her to scream again. I stood up and stomped my foot into the side of her stifle joint, hearing another crack as the bottom part of her leg twisted and fell loosely to the side when I let go of her leg.

She shouted in pain again, followed by an explosion of fire under us from her, sending an explosive blast of fire breath into the ground. It sent us both into the air. I landed a few feet away and saw her barely reach her knees, propping herself up on her one good arm. I got up and started rushing her. She looked back at me, and I didn't see a lot of anger left in her eyes. Instead, I saw fear.

She stretched her wings out and took off, but I managed to grab hold of the tip of her tail and plant myself down on the ground before she could get away.

"Ohhoho no! You don't get to run away after starting this fight and putting me through all of this! No, You're gonna see the consequences of your actions!" I said, yanking her over my head and slamming her into the ground using her tail. I jumped on her back and grabbed hold of her right wing. I stomped her wing joint with my foot like I just did with her leg, snapping it. I did the same thing with her left wing, just for good measure. She managed to contort her body, roll me off her, and begin crawling away with her good arm and leg.

I walked around her, Knowing she couldn't fight back, and planned to finish the fight. I grabbed her horn and turned her face to face me. Only to be met with a face full of fire from her maw. I reflexively put my left hand up with a sigil to catch the fire. I pushed my hand through the fire while blindly grabbing a large rock nearby and slamming it into her mouth, ceasing the barrage of flame. I pulled her head up and used another rocket rune on my elbow to do a powerful uppercut to her jaw. The rock in her mouth shattered into pieces of obsidian glass. Some flew out of her mouth while others dung into the insides of her mouth, causing it to bleed.

She fell onto the ground again, still breathing with blood flowing from her mouth. I didn't know the rock I grabbed was a piece of obsidian, but it worked out in the end. I suppose. She looked up at me with tired, pain-filled eyes as I took a step forward.

"Shtahp, pleash." She said, holding up her hand and gurgling on blood. "I yield. Jusht Shtahp. Pleash. Have mershy."

"Mercy?" I said questioningly, looking off into the distance. Think about the times I spared a Varrathian soldier only for him to get up and shoot a fellow soldier or me in the back with a gun or try something of the like. "In war, I learned you can't give mercy to the enemy. No matter how bad you feel for them or how little of a threat they can be."

"I literally can't do anything! I'm no threat to you!" She retorted, spitting up more blood.

I knelt down next to her with force. "I've heard those exact words before!" I shouted. "Then the bastard got up and shot one of my soldiers the second we turned our back on him! Time after time in this fight, you have surprised me with your abilities. I don't know what else you could be capable of." I reached around my back, grabbed my knife out of its sheath, and brought it overhead. Watching the beast look on in terror. "There is no mercy in war, Only death. I learned that long ago. You shouldn't take fights with people you don't know." I flipped my knife around into an underhand grip and prepared to plunge it into the beast's eye. She did nothing but stare at me in fear.

"Oh my gosh, dude! The guys gonna kill the dragon lord's Daughter!" I heard a faint teenage voice off in the distance. I heard a few other voices respond but couldn't make it out.

Those words clicked something in my head, and I immediately sheathed my knife. "YOU are the descendant of Dragonlord Torch?" I asked in shock.

She coughed up a lot of blood and nodded slowly.

"Fuck." I said, getting to my feet and scanning the ridgeline where I heard the voices. "HEY! One of you shmucks better come out and answer some questions, or you'll get worse than her!" I shouted. A few minutes of Silence passed before a tubby green lizard with wings and tail flew over the ridge line and landed in front of me.

"Hey, sir. Good fight you had there. Hehe. One of the best ones I've seen in the Dragon lands, hehe," He said nervously while sweating bullets.

"So, she's the dragon lord's daughter, right?" I asked.

"Well, yeah! Everybody knows Princess Ember and her thirty-nine-fight winning streak! She's the most feared fighter in the dragonlands! Well, now her streak's broken, I guess. hehe." He answered, still nervous.

"So, is fighting some form of sport for you wannabe dragons? Because the Dragons I know of back home. WILL NOT fight unless it is absolutely necessary." I asked.

"I don't know what kind of dragons you've been hanging around, tough guy. But out here, Fighting is how we establish power and prove we aren't weak." The beast responded.

"Okay, everything about this place is just wrong. I need to talk to Dragonlord Torch. Where is he?" I demanded.

The beast turned and pointed off in a direction that I guessed was Northeast. "He's usually not far from his throne in the center of the dragon lands. But I'd recommend taking Ember with you if you plan to talk to him, though."

"Why?" I asked, confused.

"Well, you won a fight with the Dragonlord's heir. That grants you an audience with the Dragonlord. Whether he turns you to ash or not is up for debate. But you gonna need prof you won, so take Ember with you." The Dragon responded. "Can I leave now?" He asked nervously.

"Yes, on one condition. You and your little band of miscreants up there on the ridge are gonna guard my ship, the big metal thing I came in with until I get back. Or else what I'm gonna do to you is gonna make what I did to Ember look like a picnic!" I threatened, getting really close to his face.

He gave a small yell and nodded his head rapidly. "y-y-yes, sir!" he said, flying back over the ridge line.

I walked back over and heaved Ember onto my back. "If you bite or try to hurt me, I will fuck you up even more than I already have. Your link to Dragonlord Torch is the only reason you are still alive." I threatened, starting to slowly limp in the direction of Dragonlord Torch.

------------------------------------------------------------------

I walked for twenty minutes while hauling Ember on my back. It was extremely hard now since the magical enchantments I reactivated gave out on me and shut off about five minutes in. My magic has been difficult to wield since getting to Equestria, which was one of my questions for the dragonlord. If he didn't turn out like the rest of these off-brand ones. Ember passed out about five minutes in due to blood loss. I threw a healing sigil on her just to stop the bleeding and funnel energy into her to keep her alive. I didn't need that awkward moment of showing the Dragonlord his dead Daughter.

I rounded the top of a hill and gazed upon a large volcanic crater. At least several miles across, but not very deep. At least by human standards. The edges of the crater were lined with hundreds of hexagonal pillars. The lower plateau in the crater's center led up to a gigantic stone throne in the center the size of a small mountain.

I slid down the hill, stepped onto one of the large hexagonal pillars, and set Ember down against a rock. I took a few steps to the edge of the pillar and looked around the area to see if I could find the Dragonlord, but I found nothing.

"Welp, it's a long shot, but let's see if he can at least hear me," I said, taking a deep breath and cupping my hands around my mouth. "GREAT DRAGONLORD TORCH! I CALL UPON YOU TO LEND ME YOUR EAR! FOR I HAVE QUESTIONS ONLY YOU CAN ANSWER!"

I stood there and waited a few seconds for a response and got nothing. I sighed and turned my back to walk away, thinking the tubby green Dragon had misled me. When an enormous shadow passed over me, cloaking the area in darkness. I looked up and raised my hand over my forehead to block out the sun to see a large, dark silhouette of a creature flying overhead with its wings outstretched. It tucked its wings in and dove downward towards the through, quickly extending its wings as it got close and flapped them rapidly to land up on the giant throne.

I will admit this had the size of a Dragon but still looked nothing like the dragons from my homeland. He had a large, bulky body and limbs with a short and abnormally rigid head shape. His scales were a mix of grey and green with bright orange on the tip of his tail and the skin of his wings. His Horns looked similar to Embers, only they were a mix of orange and tan with a large golden ring on one of them. His body bore a black metal chest plate, and on his head sat a red crystal crown. His ruby-red eyes seemed to hold a constantly pissed-off expression as he scanned the hexagonal pillars for something.

"I AM THE DRAGON LORD TORCH! WHO DARES SUMMON ME AT MY PREFERRED LAVA LOUNGING HOURS!" The giant reptile bellowed, making the ground shake as he spoke. Still looking around the pillars. I assumed he was trying to find me.

"Um, down here, uh, no to your right. I said to your right. Dammit, now you gotta go left!"

"Gosh, how small are you?! I thought my vision was bad enough." He said, frustrated, trying to follow my directions as he looked around wildly.

"Alright, fuck it. I'm gonna try something different." I pulled out my knife, used its reflective metal, and shined the light at the Dragonlord's eyes. "There, do you see the light?"

"Uh, Oh yup. I see it. Sheesh, you are on the far side of the crater. let me get a little closer." Torch brought his head low, stepped down from his throne, and walked over to me. He got MUCH bigger as he got closer, startlingly bigger.

"Okay, let me try this again." He stopped, held a clutched claw to his chest, and cleared his throat. "I AM THE DRAGON LORD TORCH! WHO DARES SUMMON ME AT MY PREFERRED LAVA LOUNGING HOURS!" He boomed. It caused me to lose my balance from his voice shaking the ground.

"I've come seeking an audience with you, Great Dragonlord. I was told by some of the others that you would hear me out if-"

"WHAT HAPPENED TO MY DAUGHTER?!" His booming voice cut me off and almost knocked me on my back.

"She started a fight she could not win!" I responded angrily. "I stepped off the Aircraft that brought me here and was assaulted by her even after stating all I wanted to do was speak with you. I then proceeded to beat her within an inch of her life." I paused for a moment and looked back at the heavily injured creature lying against the rock. Then, I looked back to the dragon lord. "I will give credit where it's due. She fucked me up pretty badly, as you can see. I coughed up a lot of blood on the way here."

"So you're saying, MY DAUGHTER. Started a fight with you and lost? And you brought her to me so you could hopefully get to speak with me?" He asked, raising his voice.

"Yes. As for the latter, one of the wannabe dragons said that's what I should do." I responded confidently.

There was Silence for a few moments. Then Dragonlord sighed and drooped his head. "Dear, sweet Daughter. I knew you'd pick a fight you couldn't win and warned you to pick your battles Wisely. Hopefully, this serves as a lesson for you." He picked up his right claw and reached over me. Scooping up Ember and setting her somewhere inside his crystal crow gently.

He then turned his head to face me. "Well, whoever you are. You have bested my Daughter in single combat, not an easy feet. As your reward, you have earned your audience. Speak, for I will listen for as long as I will tolerate it."

I was surprised. All the warnings about Dragonlord Torch and his acts of violence seemed to be over-exaggerated in the face of the actual being. The fact he wasn't roasting me or trying to swallow me whole was somewhat shocking. "I'm a little surprised, to be honest, lord Torch. From what I was told, you seemed to be more. How do I say this? Violent Than you seem to be."

"HAH! And who told you that? Some ponies? HAH!" He laughed.

"Well, yeah, actually," I stated.

"Oh..." He said suddenly, stopping his laugh and his expression shifting to one of annoyance. "Well, of course they would. Don't tell me you've come on their behalf? If so, I might as well turn you to ash now."

"Not entirely. I've had my own reasons for coming. Honestly, it's a matter of circumstance that I'm here for them. Plus, I'm not exactly a 'Pony' now, am I?" I explained, not trying to get turned to ash. With how weak I was after me and Ember fought, I'm not sure one of my runes could withstand a fireblast from Him.

"Well, for your sake, I hope you start with your stuff versus whatever the ponies want to do. Like where you come from and who exactly you are. Because I KNOW there is no pony alive that could give birth to a creature like yourself."

I took a humble bow as I introduced myself. "My name is Rileus Aromas Maximus. Son of King Thomas Aromas Maximus. I fare from the Kingdom of Romalaos. From one Form of Royalty to another, Seid gegrüßt, Majestät, Elemente erblicken uns" I stayed in the bowing postion for a few minutes, waiting for a response. Only for several oddly quiet seconds to pass by with no response.

I picked my head to look at the Dragonlord, Only to see he was deep in thought. "Is there something wrong?" I asked.

"How do you know the ancient tongue? No one in this world knows the ancient tongue." He asked as he brought his head down close to me. His large, firey orange eyes staring into my soul.

"You recognize the language of the Elementals?!" I asked, utterly baffled.

"Of course I do. I'm the dragon lord!" He boomed. "Now I ask again, How do YOU know the language of the Elementals?" He asked again, this time puffing smoke out of his nostrils.

"I was taught it By my father and his counsel, Romulus. Whom I see as a brother. Our kingdom was founded after the first King of Romalaos earned the respect of the dragons and was granted the ability to speak with the Elementals. After some time, he made a pact with them. Which allowed everyone to-"

"Stop, stop, stop. Hold on a minute. I don't need the whole life story of your kingdom." He interrupted, "You said you had dragons where you come from, right? Who was the leader at the time?"

"Dragon King Baltaeus, Unless you mean the dragon king for my time. Then it was Dragon King Teramos. Why?" I responded.

The Dragon Lord's eyes went wide. "Oh..." He said quietly. He sat back and walked away for a moment. "You're from the First One's Dimension." He added.

"The what now?" I asked, confused.

"Quick, come with me. We need to find someplace private to speak." Torch said, his entire intimidating demeanor seeming to change as he held out his open palm for me to climb onto.

"Wait, now I'm even more confused and have even more questions-"

"All will be answered in due time, just CLIMB ON!" He demanded.

I didn't hesitate and jumped aboard his ginormous palm. My vision suddenly glowed and blurred a bright, vibrant ruby red as everything seemed to shimmer and vibrate. In a bright flash of light, I suddenly found us in the middle of an enormous volcanic cave. Lava waterfalls dripped from the ceiling into large laval lakes. The heat was immense, and I quickly began sweating. I looked around more and found this place has been used frequently. Large outcrops of Multicolored crystals dotted the stone walls and floor of the massive cavern. The ground around the main portion of the floor was patted down due to excess use of travel. There were also several caves leading farther into the lava-filled caverns.

The palm I was standing on tilted, and I was forced into a slide due to the sudden steep incline. I slid down it onto the very warm ground below. I fell a few meters from his hand to the ground, which caused my already fucked up ankle to throb in pain and drop to my knees. Causing me to swear under my breath.

"Oh boy!" Torch said, almost sounding panicked as he paced around the large open area he had set me down in after resting his Daughter on a makeshift stone bed near the edge of the lava near the wall. "How did you do it? How did you cross the Veil? Baltaeus said your people had potential, and Teramos said you guys were close, but soon after that, I never heard from him again. Hell, I never felt his presence in my mind anymore!"

"WOAH, WOAH, WOAH! HOLD UP! Time out! First off, explain how the fuck you knew two of the Dragon Kings. Because I've spoken with Teramos more than a few times about dragon culture, and he never mentioned you." I responded, waving my hands in the air for him to stop talking.

"Right, you don't know how that link works." Torch said as he took a deep breath. "Do you know about the link all dragons that give them a sort of telepathic link? The one that lets them share thoughts and speak with each other and to other non-draconic beings?"

"Yes, it's first-grade dragon, I'm aware," I affirmed.

"Well, when it comes to Leader Dragons such as a Dragon king or a Dragonlord. When they are elevated by other dragons or a Dragon that earned the right to be that leader. They gain access to that same link with other Dragon Lords and Kings across the Dimensions. Granting us an amount of wisdom and knowledge of other worlds and languages along with the ability to talk with other Dragonkings telepathically. Albeit, it's very situational as sometimes we only see glimpses of thoughts or we can have full-on conversations." Torch Explained.

"Why did no one back home tell me this!?" I yelled, completely baffled by such a secret. "You gotta be lying! The Dragons back home Shared all their wisdom with us during the Years of Merlin! Something THAT huge would have been archived somewhere!"

"That's because your people hadn't crossed the Veil until now. The Dragons are instructed to withhold secrets such as those until a race or species of their Realm discovers it. Then, the Dragons are allowed to speak on it. When it comes to Interdimensional travel between worlds, This secret wouldn't be revealed by your dragon king. It would be revealed by the dragon king or lord of the dimension you have traveled to. Like what I am doing right now for you." Torch continued to explain.

"Okay, that aligns with what the dragons back home said about Elemental magic during Merlin's era. But Im gonna need some proof you spoke to our Dragon King Teramos! So I can confirm what you're saying is true." I retorted.

Torch sighed annoyingly. "Your sister's name was Devones Aromas Maximus. Your mother's name was Danelle Suftor Maximus. The Dragon King's mate was Dragon Queen Zepurious. The King had vibrant sapphire scales, while the Aueen had cloud-white and grey scales. You once asked the Dragon King at the age of this world, equivalent to twelve, if the bedroom exuberance was Quote. 'Something out of this world.' As a dare from your older sister." He recalled in a low, monotone voice

"AHH! STOP, STOP, STOP! WE DON'T TALK ABOUT THAT! My dad Scolded my ass enough about that!" I shouted, covering my ears as my face blushed in embarrassment.

"Do you have your confirmation now?" Torch asked.

"Yes, yes, I got it!" I said, shaking away that memory.

"Good, since I know all about you and where you come from, thanks to this link. I need to ask, What happened to Dragon King Teramos? I haven't heard from him in so long, and he was a good friend."

"Oh..." I said softly. "he uh... You know what? Just go through my head and find what you need since I know you're telepathic. I'll put everything needed to know about what happened up front for you. I'm not Reliving this bullshit. Not yet, at least." I said, pulling my vault of memories I've locked away since I arrived in Equestria from the depths of my mind and putting it upfront.

"Very well." He said, leaning down close to me and staring into my eyes.

I felt a large, bulky feeling press into my mind. It was gentle as it moved, like a gentle tightness around the head. It took hold of the vault as it absorbed the contents. A few moments passed as the Dragon Lord sifted through my memories. Then, a few tears streaked down from the Dragonlord's eyes as he retracted his presence from my mind.

"I've seen enough." He said, his voice strained with pain, turning away as he wiped his face. I tucked my vault back into the depths of my mind.

"Lord Torch? Are you okay?" I asked cautiously as I saw Torch sitting right in front of a wall on the far side of the cavern. Not speaking or moving.

"HOW COULD THEY!" He yelled with a righteous fury I've never seen before in any creature as he slammed his fists through the cavern wall repeatedly. "THE WAR, THE DEATH, WHY!" The whole cavern began to shake as rocks fell from the ceiling and new lava waterfalls sprouted from walls around the massive lava lake. Steam vents erupted from the ground, causing me to take cover in a small outcrop in the wall nearby.

His onslaught lasted several minutes, along with several other choice words and phrases. He took a few steps back with shaking fists, looking at the newly opened cavern in the wall he had made. He took several deep breaths, trying to calm down. I slowly crawled out from my hiding spot and walked towards him.

"Sorry for that bombshell. Things back home aren't exactly well." I said sourly.

"I can tell." He responded. "Why do you keep referring to my kind as wannabe dragons? I looked through your fight with my Daughter, and that was a consistent thought in your mind. Are we not good enough for you?" he said, turning his head so one of his burning orange eyes stared at me.

"No! Well..." I paused, scrambling for the right words as Torch stared me down with a raised eyebrow. Alright, hold on. You gotta understand this from my perspective. There is a huge difference between you guys and the Dragons Back home."

"That's because this is a different Dimension, you fool!" He boomed. "We are still Dragons! Maybe not the kind you're used to be. We are dragons, nonetheless!"

"I know that now!" I responded. "But understand, ever since I've got here, it's been culture shock after culture shock. Imagine how shocking it was for me when I found out two Alicorns raised the sun and moon! How shocking it was for me to realize the Elementals don't govern nature in Equestria, but rather, the ponies manage the cycle, from migrations of birds to the storms in the sky! Everything I've seen in this world is just wrong! My world and this one have so many distinct differences in the natural balance of the world, and it makes me want to correct it!"

"Rileus..." Torch said, sounding empathetic. "I understand your frustration and where it comes from, really I do. I would react the same way in your position. But you gotta understand the Elementals make dimensions and worlds to experiment with ideas. This one is no different. The rules and laws of your world have no foothold here since it has not undergone the process that yours did. They haven't had their 'Merlin' comune and make a pact with the Elementals. So they are still bound and have yet to be unbound."

I felt the weight of his words as he spoke. I understood that this world is different from my own. But I was subconsciously trying to correct this world that was made to be this way, even through my teachings with Twilight. That was not my goal. And if it wasn't, what was my goal? I couldn't go back home. There was nothing left for me back there. I need an outside source. I need an Elemental.

"How do I speak with an Elemental in this world?" I asked.

Torch seemed surprised. "Well, in this case. The normal way is closed to you since you are already Unbound. So the only remaining way is to make the Primal brew and meditate in a place with high Elemental Energy. Here is my volcano. It would be optimal for a fire communion. But why do you suddenly want to seek them out?" He asked.

"Now that you've opened my eyes. I realize I have no goal in this world. I have no purpose or meaning. I need to ask someone to set me on the right path. Who better to do that than the primal ones." I responded. "Could you point me in the direction of the ingredients I would need to make the Primal brew? I know they must be different in this world.

"Well, if this is your challenge. I can't simply tell you, as it would go against the role the dragons are supposed to play. As we are guides, we are only meant to show you the way." He responded with a smirk.

"Of course, the most dragon response I could have gotten," I said, facepalming.

"You know what? Im just gonna ask the question. Do all dragons have this split personality like you? You had this big, mean, and terrifying demeanor back in the crater, and now you act like a dragon from my homeland." I asked.

"Actually, it's only me who does that, or should I say the dragonlord acts like this. Technically, the version of me you saw in the crater was my quote 'canon' personality. But thanks to this-" He reached under his chest plate and pulled out a staff with a large red gem at the top. "It gives the Dragonlord a link to the other dragon kings and the wisdom of the elementals, much like how the dragons of your world all naturally have their wisdom and knowledge. In simple terms, the Dragon who wields this scepter turns into the dragon lord and gains everything I've explained so far. But we still have to keep up our 'canon' personality to the rest of the dragons."

"huh, so one Dragon holds the power and the knowledge but must keep it a secret from the rest. Interesting Concept." I said, rolling that around in my head.

"Anyway, back to the Elementals. Are there any hints you could give me so I can find these ingredients?" I asked.

"All I can say is that you'll know it when you see them. Unless you have any ideas that I can confirm or deny?" Torch responded.

"Well, I did have one idea. The rainbow liquid waterfalls near Cloudsdale? I thought those seemed pretty promising." I asked.

"Well then, you are correct. That rainbow liquid is the liquid essence of the sky in this world and is the base of the primal brew." He confirmed.

"I knew it!" I shouted with a fist bump. "Okay, I just gotta find the rest then. I'll probably have to build scanners to detect high pockets of Elemental energy... Eh, I'll get to that when I get home, and I'm not hurting all over."

"Well, if that's all. I can send you back to the big metal, whatever you call it." He asked.

"Just one thing involving the ponies," I said nervously with a shrug.

"Ugh, look, I can't just tell all the dragons to stop being mean to ponies or to stop eating them. That goes against my other personality," he responded.

"Understandable. You can't blame me for trying, though." I said with another shrug

"However, Here's what I can do, though. I can try to move the dragons away from the pony settlements on the borders of the Dragon lands IF you can make sure that Celestia doesn't let them expand further into the Dragon lands. If they do, well, things won't be pretty." He offered.

"Well, I can at least work with that. Plus, that's something I can report back to Celestia." I responded. "Other than that, I got nothing else I need."

"Very well." Torch said, and my vision started going blurry and ruby red again. "I will say if you ever need help from me or need to talk again. Please come by and let me know. Any friend of Teramos is a Friend of mine. And if you do, please try to beat my Daughter within an inch of her life." He added before I found myself standing in front of the Frontier.

I smiled and hobbled my way up the ramp, and plopped myself into the pilot's seat. It was almost night, and I felt exhausted. I started booting up and starting the engines.

"Sir! Are you okay? What happened? When the Helmet's energy signature went offline, I feared the worst!" Romulus's voice came over the radio in a worried panic.

"I'll explain when I get back home, Romulus. Right now, take the wheel and fly me back. I'm tired and hurt a lot." I said as I leaned back in the chair.

intervention

View Online

I stumbled to the rear of the Frontier as it landed, bracing myself against the wall. My wounds from my battle with Ember have taken a drastic toll on my body. I'm sure I had a concussion and more than a few broken bones. Not to mention the many spots I was still bleeding from. Im thankful Romulus was able to fly me back home posthaste. I'm pretty sure I faded in and out of consciousness while sitting in the pilot's chair.

The entry ramp lowered, and I stumbled down it, Only to trip on the step going onto the stone ground of Canterlot and fall right into Romulus's arms as he ran up to me. I didn't even try to catch myself.

"By the Elements! Riley, what happened out there?!" Romulus exclaimed as he picked me up and carried me inside the forge.

"Well, Torch and I talked," I grunted. "Dragon King Torch is quite talkative. His daughter, much more physical." Romulus carried me to my bedroom in the back of the forge and laid me down while I groaned in pain as he did so.

"Godammit. So it was all for nothing." Romulus said, sounding frustrated.

"Not Exactly," I responded. I Then retold the events that had transpired in the Dragonlands. From my opening fight with Ember to my long conversation with Lord Torch while he looked over my body to see the extent of my injuries while treating the open wounds.

"An interesting journey, sir. It seems we have a new goal." Romulus said after I finished my story. "Unfortunately, With the extent of your injuries. There were several broken ribs and a minor fracture in the skull, not to mention your poor shattered ankles. You are quite limited on your options." He said, finishing up a stitch on my shoulder.

"Well, I need to get a list together nonetheless. Having our next steps planned out would at least give me something to manage." I stated. "Romulus, make a list for me."

Romulus nodded his head as a small screen projected forward from his eyes into the air while he still worked on me.

"Okay, so as of right now. We need to contact the Elementals. That's our main focus right now." I said, the words appearing on the small screen as I said them.

"But, without the primal brew, we can't even begin to look for them." Romulus reminded.

"Right. So, first things first. In the morning or sooner, send word to Celestia that I need a few gallons of that Rainbow liquid. Torch said that would be the liquid base for the Brew, and since you have to brew it in an Enchanted Element Steel Caldron, we're gonna need a lot. Also, put that cauldron somewhere on the list for forging as well." I told him as he got up, moved the end of the bed, and started wrapping my feet in a bandage cast that wrapped around my ankles and part of my foot.

"Next, we need to find the other three Elemental ingredients. I can probably guess where they are, but the areas im thinking of are so massive we need something to narrow it down. Hmm." I rubbed my chin in thought. Then, an Idea revealed itself. "Do you think we could build a strong enough P.E.S.R on the top of the Canterlot Mountain to Pinpoint and magnify the locations of Concentrated Elemental magic signatures?"

"Well, technically, yes, the problem lies in the device's size and manufacturing. Not to mention the means to make its range effective and even worthwhile to build in the first place. The Primal Energy Scanning Radar is a very complex piece of machinery requiring a satellite to be remotely effective. How do you suppose we Launch a Sattleite without a Noah Orbital launch cannon?" Romulus asked.

"Well, we do have an aircraft capable of reaching orbit." I reminded him.

"Riley..." Romulus said, shaking his head.

"Now, hold on, hear me out," I said, raising a hand.

He shook his head and looked down at the floor before gesturing a hand at me to continue.

"Okay, so I know how you feel about the pressure seal since we don't have the proper silicone to fix it fully. So here's my plan: once we get the satellite positioned on the tallest peak of the Canterlot Mountains. We then take the sibling satellite and attach it to the Frontier. But only After we get the Froniter heat seal fixed so it doesn't have a fifty-fifty shot of burning up on reentry. Then YOU will fly the Frontier into orbit and drop off the satellite up there. After that, we can pinpoint each of the ingredients we need in seconds." I explained.

Romulus nodded in understanding. "The plan is sound, sir. If it wouldn't take a hundred years to do."

"The hell are you on about!?" I asked, confused.

"Sir, we are not in Romulios anymore. We do not have access to the city's manufacturing facilities and factories, not to mention half of the required resources to make a full-size P.E.S.R. Add all that together, and the time needed just to manufacture all pieces of that radar comes out to just around a hundred years, not to mention the time needed to find the correct replacement materials for those not native to this Dimension." Romulus explained.

"Hmp. You are not the first one to tell me we're not home anymore." I grumbled.

Romulus sighed and stood up, the screen he was projecting fading away as he did so. "Sir, why don't you get some sleep? We can revisit this in the morning." He said, making his way to the door.

He was halfway out the door when I called out to him. "How are you so stable?"

Romulus back, stepped into the room, and turned to look at me. "Pardon?" He asked, confused.

"Although the full weight of the fact that we are not in Romulios, or our homeland at all, just hit me today in my interaction with Torch. I've been suffering in my own regard. Albeit subconsciously, I've still been struggling to deal with the fact that our home is gone. And yet, You walk and talk like nothing is wrong. Hell, you act like nothing ever happened. So I ask, how in the FUCK are you coping so well. Or do you just not care that Dad is gone or that our fucking kingdom is reduced to fucking crater." I asked, my eyes suddenly becoming watery.

"Sir..." He sighed. He sat down on the bed the way a parent would try to comfort a child who had a nightmare. "I'm a super advanced AI who was given a soul by Merlin over five thousand years ago. I've known every king Romulios has had over those five thousand years. I also have seen kings pass on every five hundred years during that time. I'm no stranger to loss, believe me, and it gets no easier each time. I can also process my emotions faster than any human ever could, thanks to my artificial nature. It's not that I wasn't affected by the war or the loss of the kingdoms, including our own. I just process it faster and in my own way. Over the last few months, I have silently grieved, mourned, and moved on. Which was hard for me, seeing as my consciousness was rooted and spread throughout Romulios during the final days when it was wiped out. So, more of me died that day than you Realize."

I was stunned, then I quickly felt like shit. Another piece of guilt to add to the pile. "I'm... sorry, Romulus. I had no idea."

"It's fine." He started, patting me on the shoulder, causing me to flinch in pain. "Sorry. You are only human, after all. That's why I don't blame you for struggling more than I have or saying what you say. Just try and get some sleep, alright. If you need anyone to talk to, you know im here for you, sir." He ended, finally standing up and walking out of the room. Closing the door behind him.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

When I awoke the next morning. I was extraordinarily sore. Moving felt like I was trying to move a mountain, and the massive headache didn't help much either. I should have given Ember more props; she fucked me up good. I slowly and painfully sat up and brought my legs to the side of the bed. Normally, I would just throw a few healing Sigils on myself and be fine in a few minutes. But complex bones in the ankles were not my strong suit. Since the healing Sigils based their healing potency on how well you knew your own body biologically. Only the most experienced healers could work on others with their sigils. My skill lies slightly above novice. I'm not an expert on my own body, at least not in the medical sense. I know what it should feel like. I've mended broken ribs and a fractured arm or leg here and there. But complex bone anatomies like an ankle or a hand are a bit much, as are certain tendons and muscles. So for now im stuck limping or walking with a cane. As for my minor skull fracture right where I got decked in the face. If I was looking at an x-ray, I could maybe mend it? But I personally wouldn't trust myself.

I took a few moments to sit there and wake up. Rubbing my eyes to get all the eye-crusties out of them. Trying to avoid the stitches on my face from Ember claws.

"Riley, you there? Its Torch." I heard Lord Torch's booming voice from inside my head, causing a headache to quickly stir in my head.

"AGH, fuck your loud," I said aloud.

"Sorry," He said, his voice rapidly dropping in volume. "I figured I'd follow up with you to see if you're doing alright."

"Yeah, I'm fine, or as fine as I can be. Your daughter fucked me up pretty good." "I responded.

"Good. Not good that you're in pain, mind you. Good that you're doing okay." he corrected himself.

"Speaking of which, how is your daughter doing?" I asked nervously.

"Recovering, your fight put her into a state of hibernation where her body just focuses on Healing. Combine that with my Elemental magic and knowledge of dragon biology. She'll be fine in no time."

"Good to hear. May I ask why you are in my head all of a sudden?" I asked.

"You see, when I was poking around the memories you showed me to fill in on what happened to Dragon King Teramos. I put in a little backdoor so we could talk without you coming to the dragon lands and getting pestered by some of the teenage whelps I got out here. My daughter being one of them," He explained.

"Fair enough, I guess." I shrugged. "it's only for communication, right? You're not peeping around my head?"

"Of course. You have your privacy, and I have mine," he responded.

"Well, while I got you here. I do have a question about what I slept on last night."

"Ask away."

"Why are the tensions between the Dragons and Ponies so high in the first place? Surely, it wasn't always like this." I asked.

"Well..." he started. "There are few things that caused things to be the way they are. The unique Dragon nature of this Dimension is one of them. We go off in a very simple yet semi-barbaric way of showing respect. Through violence and combat, as you have seen with Ember. We see all those who can't hold their own in a one-on-one fight as beneath us. Seeing as ponies that could do that is almost one in a generation. They, too, fall in that category."

"Yeah, no, I get that. But surely there was a very specific moment that caused things to really 'Kick Off?'" I asked.

"Well, I suppose if you go all the way back to Dragonlord Flame's rule before Ponies officially settled in Equestria. A group of Ponies had just finished settling down in what you all know as the Everfree Forest and dubbed the land Equestria. The group was quite large and had more than a few capable warriors and mages among them. When they chanced upon Flame's son Crag."

"What do you mean by chanced?" I asked.

"Crag was an adventurous dragon who was different compared to the rest of our kind. He chose to go out and explore the world in his youth before taking his father's position as Dragonlord. He was more docile than the rest of us, but was still quite an experienced warrior. He had taken up refuge in a cave near the pony settlement hidden deep in one of the deep canyons. A pony mining team ventured down into the canyon for the rich metal deposits down there and awoke Crag. Who terrified them and caused them to flee upon sight. Even though he did nothing to make them fearful of him. Wanting to apologize, he went to the settlement to do so. Unfortunately, it did not go so well."

"What happened?" I asked.

"When Crag arrived at the settlement, he decided to introduce himself. Greet the ponies with an open claw in order to smooth things over into his apology. Unfortunately, the ponies weren't as eager to meet him. Most of them having never seen a dragon before and the mining team filling the ponies' thoughts with fear. They gathered their weapons and warriors, along with calling upon the soon-to-be-called 'Pillars of Equestria' to take on Crag. The following battle that ensued caused a lot of death on the pony's side and heavily wounded Crag to the point of retreating. He barely got within the borders of the Dragonlands before he perished, bleeding out on one of the ash-covered hilltops just within the border. His father, Lord Flame, was flying around the border lands to ensure the security of his territory when he came across his son's body. To say that he was outraged was an understatement. His wrath was unmeasurable. However, it took him several more years to figure out it was the ponies who slew his son. As such, he visited the small settlement, which now had the castle of the two sisters in mid-construction. And now, the pillars of Equestria had the Elements of Harmony. The following battle was the first time the Elements were used at their full power and earned their reputation as a weapon still feared by races across Equestria to this day. The Elements stripped the Dragonlord of all his power and banished him to Tartarus, where he died of old age."

"Old age? I thought dragons lived for thousands of years?" I stated.

"They do, but in those conditions. A dragon's biology would rather die sooner than live like that. After that, my father quickly rose to power as the new Dragonlord. He chose to steer clear of Equestria and their magical superweapon. But taking his chances to get quick hits with small skirmishes at border towns and such. Tensions with the ponies have been high ever since."

"Huh, im gonna have to roll that around in the noggin for a while. Process it and figure out what I can do on my end with the ponies. Because from the sounds of it, both sides can be blammed. However, and I know it's not my right to say, but the ponies did kinda kick it off. Killing Crag did seem to light the fuse." I said, rubbing my chin.

"I appreciate your commitment to smoothing things over with our kinds. But you don't have to. It's not your job to do so, after all. It's probably best we steer clear of each other's kind anyway. It's just safer that way."

"It may not be my job. But I'm gonna do it anyway because I want to. You looked at my memories. I'd rather see peace blossom than violence prosper." I responded.

"That's very noble of you. But I would suggest you focus on other goals for the time being."

"Yeah, I gotta find the rest of these primal ingredients for this Brew. Are you sure you can't help me out? Not even a hint or nudge in the right direction?"

"Nope. Then it wouldn't be a quest, would it?" Torch ended, as his presence faded from my mind.

I waited a few moments and sighed. "Welp, time to start the day, I guess."

I tried to stand and quickly fell back onto the bed. I tried again, with some more push-off, to get my first step started. I then stumbled forward and fell onto my face with a loud thud.

"Fuck." I mumbled into the floor.

I heard the door open in front of me as Romulus stepped in to check what the noise was.

"Trouble walking?" He asked with a loving snicker.

"Just help me up, dammit." I groaned.

Romulus quickly helped me to my feet, walked me out to the living room, and set me down in my recliner. "I was just finishing Breakfast," Romulus said as he walked back to the kitchen. "You slept like a rock last night. No nightmares, I assume?"

"No, thankfully. I was too tired to dream last night." I said, pulling the lever on the side on the side of the recliner to recline it.

"That's good to hear," Romulus said as he returned with a plate full of food. Sausage, eggs, toast, and a glass of orange juice. "Hear, eat. You must be starving."

I took the plate of food without hesitation and began eating. Setting the glass of orange juice on the end table next to the chair. I looked at the clock to check the time. It was eleven thirty-eight.

"Anything worth reporting this morning, Romulus?" I asked.

"Well, I did send word to Princess Celestia about your request for that Rainbow liquid. She was eager to respond and said she would stop by sometime today to personally deliver it and hear how your Journey to the dragon lands went. Of course, I offered to fill her in on the details, but she preferred to hear it from you specifically." Romulus explained.

"Course she would," I said, stuffing a chunk of sausage in my face. Then, I quickly remembered a thought I had right before I fell asleep last night. "Romulus, the Frontier has reflective radar plating, right?" I asked with a mouth full of food.

"Yes, sir. It helps with enemy missile lock and increases the effective scanning range. Why?" He asked.

"What if we reconfigure the scanner using the plating as a boost to scan for high-density primal energy signatures? Essentially, turn the Frontier into a flying P.E.S.R.," I suggested. Romulus stood in the kitchen and cleaned pans in silence for a few minutes as he thought.

"I suppose that could work. We'd just need a sample energy signature to recalibrate the scanner. The range won't be nearly as good since we're gonna need to condense the scan range to get the best accurate results. But considering the speed of the Frontier, that shouldn't be a problem." He said as he continued to clean the pans and put them away.

I cleared my plate, set it aside, and relaxed in my chair for a minute. I brought my hands up and looked at them. I was surprised to see my knuckles were bruised. I thought back on my fight with Ember the day prior and thought aloud, "Wow, guess punching dragon scales does leave a lasting impression, huh?"

"Indeed. To be honest, sir, you're lucky you didn't break them. You know dragon scales are harder than most steel." Romulus commented.

"I'm very well aware, Romulus." I continued to think about my fight as I continued to look at my hands.

"ya know what's weird about that whole fight, Romulus?" I asked.

"What, sir?"

"The fact that it's been so hard for me to use my primal magic in even the simplest of spells since our arrival here in this new world. And yet, in the dragonlands. It felt like I was back home with how much magic I could draw on. In fact, I was able to reactivate my body enhancement sigils that you helped me weave into my body." I explained.

"Which is not something you need a small amount of primal energy to do," Romulus commented, seeming intrigued.

"Right now, I've been trying to push and just activate the sigils in my arms, and I'm coming up blank. It's like there is a severe Primal energy gap between here in Equestria and the Dragonlands." I said, finally giving up on my attempts to activate the sigils and resting my arms on the armrests of the recliner.

"Which, from a scientific perspective, isn't possible. Primal energy is a free-flowing energy source like the air or light. But it is much more complex as it doesn't quite obey the laws of physics. There would have to be very specific barriers or effects in play to inhibit that sort of movement. Or else the primal energy in the dragon lands would have spilled out into the rest of the Equestria by this point." Romulus added, sitting down on the couch next to me as he was now also deep in thought.

"Then again, this is a new dimension. Things could work differently here." I commented.

"Not necessarily. Primal energy is a constant and does not change its raw nature. We can manipulate it into a condensed or focused form of one of the four primal elements. But just raw, untapped primal energy, as stated by Merlin's Fire Elemental companion. 'Is a source that is constant across all realms and dimensions. No matter how different they may be to ours, Primal energy will always work the same. But the way the people of those realms interact with that energy may change drastically.'" Romulus quoted.

"Hmm, so what you think, is that the Dimension that Equestria resides in interacts differently with Primal energy than our Dimension does?" I asked.

"Indeed. The puzzle pieces are here. They just need a capable scientist to put them together." Romulus looked at me, and I swear if he had a mouth, he would certainly be smiling. "I believe I finally found a way to occupy my spare time!"

I smirked at the machine. "You've been that bored this whole time?" I asked.

"Sadly, yes, without the constant background noise of the city machinery, the questions of the citizens, or the thirty bajillion alarms to occupy my massive computing power. I admit I've been losing my mind." He chuckled.

"Haha! Glad I'm not the only one!" I laughed.

Our conversation was suddenly interrupted by a knocking at the door.

"I WoNDer wHo tHAt cOUld bE?" I said snarkily. Getting a snicker from Romulus.

I tried to get up and answer it, but Romulus got up before me and was already heading to the door. "I'll get it, sir. You stay there and relax."

"Fine by me," I said, leaning back into my chair.

Romulus opened the door, and from the angle, I was sitting. I Could see part of Celestia's flowing mane through the crack in the door that connected it to the wall.

"Greetings Romulus. Can we come in?" I heard Celestia ask.

"Certainly." Romulus stepped to the side as Celestia walked in, Shining armor close behind her, carrying a large saddlebag. Romulus closed the door behind them. When they both saw me in the chair, their eyes went wide.

"What? Is there something on my face?" I asked, confused.

"Well, the massive, nasty-looking bruise stretching out from your nose is something on your face," Shining commented.

"I have a bruise on my face? Huh, what does not looking in a mirror do to a guy." I commented.

"What happened?" Celestia asked.

"You guys want the full story or the short version?" I asked.

They both looked at each other, then back to me. "Um, the short version?" They said in unison as they took seats on the couch next to my chair.

"Long story short, When I got to the dragon lands, I was ambushed by the dragon lord's daughter. Managed to keep my ship from crashing, thank the elements. A fight ensued, in which I emerged victorious. The dragon lord respected my strength and allowed me to speak with him. In doing so, we found a lot of common ground. When I talked to him about Pony and Dragon relations. He said the best he could do was keep the dragons under his rule away from the border so there would be no more attacks on the border towns as long as they didn't expand farther into his territory. Other than that, his claws are tied." I explained.

"Well, that's certainly better than I expected," Celestia said, clearly surprised. "Not very many Ponys go into the Dragon Lands and come out alive."

"Well, as you can see. Im no Pony." I stated.

"Yet you still look pretty banged up despite things," Shining commented.

"Well, yeah, I got a minor skull fracture, a few broken ribs, and two shattered ankles." I quickly turned to Romulus, who was watching the conversation. "By the way, we need to get on that." He gave me a quick nod and walked away, before I re-focused on the ponies. Who were both surprised and concerned for me. "However, you should see the other girl. From how I understand what Torch told me. She went into a Healing-Hibernatic-comatose from how bad I fucked her up."

"I'm still surprised that you managed to win a head-on fight with a dragon. Even the younger dragons are still super tough." Shining stated.

"Yeah, she's bipedal and somewhat humanoid-shaped. I was trained in the military to fight and subdue opponents with those same parameters. She had raw strength and, admittedly, some cunning. But With my training, I won, and not without taking a few hits in the process, as you can see. Hell, I had to hit her with a lightning bolt to really put her out of the fight." I stated.

"Well, all things considered, Im glad you made it back safe," Celestia said in her warm, soothing voice. "Oh, I almost forgot. Soarin and a few of the wonderbolts came through on my request and brought several jars of the rainbow liquid from the Rainbow Falls." Celestia gestured to Shining Armor, and his horn hummed to life with pink magic. Six large jars floated out of the saddlebags on his back and were set down on the table. I eyed the jars curiously and picked one up to inspect it.

"It's all fresh from the natural rainbow falls near Cloudsdale. I hope it's enough." Celestia said as I turned the jar over in my hands. No matter how much I did so, the liquid remained a rainbow. No mixing of colors, just straight lines of color that rotated with the jar's orientation.

"Fascinating," I said in awe. I reached out with my mind towards the jar to see if I could detect the primal magic within the liquid. And it lit up like a Christmas tree with Sky element energy. "Oh yeah, this will certainly serve as a proper base for the primal brew."

Romulus came back into the living room from one of the back rooms with a large screen in one hand. He walked up beside me in the recliner and dropped to a kneeling position as he grabbed one of my legs by the calf and picked it up to rest on his bent metal knee. He held up the screen to my ankle and began scanning it.

I leaned forward and sat the jar back down on the table. "Cool, one of four primal ingredients down." I leaned back in my recliner and looked at Celestia and Shining Armor on the couch to my right. "Well, Shining, I gotta ask. How's it going with Cadance?"

His eyes lit up at the thought of Cadence. "Oh, things are going great! Better than I expected, actually! I didn't expect Cadence to be into a stallion like me, but we've really hit it off."

"Well, good to hear!" I stated. "Im glad my drunken antics had something good blossom from it."

"Yeah, but that's not the only thing that 'blossomed' that night," Shining commented nervously.

"Why? What happened?" I asked, now also starting to get nervous.

Shining turned his head to face Celestia. "Do you wanna tell him, or do you want me to do it?"

Celestia waved Shining off and took the lead in the conversation. "I've been made aware that you had an altercation with some stallions at the local bar here in canterlot a few nights ago."

I looked to Shining Armor with a look of annoyance and said, "You told on me?"

"As captain of the royal guard, I have to report and document anything I see that's noteworthy in the eyes of Equestrian law. That night was no exception." Shining replied.

I opened my mouth to reply, but Celestia waved me to be quiet. "Im not throwing blame. In fact, I'm on your side. The whole matter was self-defense, and even though the three stallions came to me to press charges against you when they sobered up. I had already seen Shining's report and waved them off. But, as per my job as ruler of Equestria, I did have to conduct a small investigation."

"And?" I asked.

"Well, I must admit. From the sources I've asked, both frequent patrons at the bar and the few bartenders that work there. You drink there a lot. More often than anyone else at the bar. Almost every other night, according to the graveyard shift bartender. Now, he did defend you in the case of you normally keep to yourself. So he assumed you were just having a rough night. Plus, you stated at the bar and quoted, 'It brought up some rather unhappy memories I wanna keep suppressed.'"

"Sheesh, fuckin blabbermouth," I mumbled.

"What was that?" Celestia asked.

"Nothing." I sharply replied.

"If I may cut in, Princess. it will only take a moment." Romulus said, raising a hand.

"Sir, you can conjure precise healing Sigils better than I can. Could you conjure up one with seven rings?" He asked.

"SEVEN RINGS?!" I said, utterly baffled. "What the hell are you doing down there that requires Seven-ring precision?!"

"Sir, I don't think you understand the severity of your ankles' state. Your left Talus is in four different pieces, and your right Talus is in five. The ends of the Tibia and Fibula in both of your legs are fractured, and both naviculars are cracked. I have several sigils blocking the pain receptors in your ankles right now that are severely lessening the majority of the agony you should be experiencing right now. So yes, Seven Rings is quite necessary."

I scoffed and opened my palm. Conjuring a single healing sigil with a large circular circumference. Then, I conjured another one within the circle, only smaller. I repeated this process several times with increasing difficulty. Creating a layered sigil going past three layers, or rings in this case, was not an easy feat. By the time I got to the sixth ring, I was breathing heavily and sweating. When I focused on myself and started working on the seventh. You could have sworn I was trying to take one hell of a bathroom break.

Once I finished, the seven rings were in place. I stuck out my hand to pass off the massive spell sigil to Romulus. "Fuckin take this stupid thing," I said, sounding exasperated.

He quickly stuck his hand under the rune between it and my hand and funneled his own primal energy into it. Slowly taking the complex sigil from me and relieving me of its mental drain to keep it sustained. "Good job, sir. I know that took a lot out of you." He turned and nodded to Celestia to continue while he aimed the sigil at my ankles and began his work, starting with the left one.

"Thank you, Romulus. Now, where was I..." Celestia murmured.

"The bartender tattled on me?" I replied as I leaned back in the recliner, wiping sweat from my brow.

"Right. But 'tattle' seems a bit childish, don't you think?" She responded with a slight chuckle.

"I may be in my late forties, but my body is as developed as a teenager. In pony terms, I'm barely seventeen to you all." I reminded.

"I'm never gonna fully understand the human aging process, but anyhow, back on the subject." She said, clapping her hooves together. "In the post-examination of everything I've gathered about that night, I have to ask. Is everything alright?" she said, her expression quickly softening. Reminding me of my mother coming to comfort me after a nightmare.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't it be fine?" My eyes drifted nervously down to Romulus, who was focused on my ankles. "We'll, except for this," I added while I gestured to my legs.

"Well, yes, of course. But I mean, mentally, are you okay? Despite some of the worst-case scenarios I've seen over my thousand years as Equestria's ruler. No one drinks that much and that often unless there's something going wrong." She clarified.

"Im fine, Celestia. My trip to the stars a few days ago just brought up some unfond memories. Thats all." I responded, Crossing my arms and looking away. I could still tell she had raised an eyebrow.

"I doubt that. Even before your flight, Luna had come to me once or twice about you having frequent violent nightmares, and yet you had refused to let her in to help deal with them. You still drank just as much before that, too. So, I'll ask again: Is there something wrong?" She asked again, her voice sounding slightly more stern.

I sat there in silence for a few moments before turning my head to look at Shining, who had a sympathetic look on his face. Then I looked at Celestia. I felt somewhat comforted, and my expression softened, yet I also felt cornered. My memories flashed back to nightmares of the First cataclysm bomb vaporizing my whole regiment. My squad of friends turned to ash and dust while my royal talisman spared my life and returned me to the castle of Romulios. I thought back to holding my sister's charred corpse after her caravan was ambushed and burned to the ground. I thought back to my whole family gathered around my mother after an assained drove a knife through her chest as we watched her bleed out in front of us. I thought of my dad's last words to me before he ordered Romulus to put inside that damn ship and leave Romulios before the Catacyslm bomb wiped it out.

"Keep our history alive, teach those not to do what caused our undoing. Be better than us, son."

My expression hardened again, and anger filled my mind. "Maybe you all should mind your own fucking business."

Both of the ponies were taken aback by my response, and Romulus slapped me hard on my thigh. "LANGUAGE! You should know better than to talk like that to Royalty!"

"Shut up and do your job, you oversized tin can. Or do I need to use one of the royal overrides on you?" I threatened. Romulus's digital eyes went wide in shock. He slowly turned away and went back to working on my ankles. I only remember threatening him with the overrides once. And that was right when I woke up after my talisman saved me back home. I wanted to get on the next flight out to the impact zone of the bomb and see if there was anyone to save. He stopped me and stood in my way of what I thought was the only chance to save my friends. That's when I threatened him.

The overrides were simple in design yet barbaric when it came to Romulus. Merlin put the overrides in place in case Romulus ever went corrupt or turned on the kingdom. The Overrides forcefully put the human soul within his code into a stasis. Or a prison, as Romulus described it one time. And left only His AI running, following the hardcoded rules of his programming without human free will. While essentially benching his soul. He can't mess with the overrides because of Merlin input them into his source code. The one time he talked about it. Romulus described it as having your soul ripped from your mind and put into a cage while watching numbers run the show. He said it was barbaric, cruel, heavily traumatic, and excruciatingly painful. Hence, his current reaction when threatened by them.

"Riley, we are just concerned for your safety, if there's something wrong, then..." Shining armor was started but was then quickly cut off by me.

"Then you should worry about your guy's own problems instead of mine. My issues and my trials are mine and mine alone. Not something to burden on someone else." I stated firmly.

"That's not a healthy way to deal with whatever's going on with you!" Celestia retorted.

"Then you don't know humans well," I responded. "Can you guys do me a huge favor? And get the FUCK outa my house!? You all pissed me off today."

"Riley-" Shining started.

"NOW, dammit!" I shouted. Slamming my fist onto the wooden end table to my right. Smashing through it with ease.

They looked at the broken end table hesitantly but slowly got up and, gathered themselves and made their way to the door. Romulus got up quickly to go and open it for them.

"Oh, and one more thing," I added before they bother walked through the door. Causing them to look back at me.

"Don't do an intervention with me again unless you want me to pack up and leave. I am my own man and my problems are my own."

Natures Therapy

View Online

It's been a week, and it's a very quiet one at that. Every since Celestia and Shining's last visit, I've stopped going to the bar to drink and just bought bottles of the usual stuff I drink. That way, I don't bring any more attention to myself. Romulus barely talks to me now, at least since I used that override on him. And by barely talking to me, I mean socially talking to me. I've been stuck inside with the guy, but he only responds to orders and tasks. He doesn't talk, talk to me anymore. Doesn't say good morning, doesn't ask me how im doing, none of that. To be fair, this has allowed me to tunnel vision my work without having to worry about socializing. But I never realized how much I would notice, let alone miss it. The worst part is I understand why he's doing it, and I would expect him to. I did literally override his soul to essentially fuck off about a week ago.

But, to be frank, I'm slowly losing it. My nightmares are becoming increasingly frequent and more intense to the point where im staying up later and later. Not to mention, my need for whiskey has turned into a daily chore rather than just a social thing. I even forged myself a hip flask, which Twilight made a comment on during our last session yesterday. I brushed it off and moved on with the lesson, only for me to be so unmotivated that I ended up cutting it short about an hour and a half early.

I've also started reworking and rearranging how the forge runs for maximum efficiency. To the point where I got tired of only being able to run two machines at a time. So, this week's main project has been dedicated to making a new specter. It's not something as fancy as Romulus's model, but it's one of the standard factory models that could help run things. Of course, though, I'd need a little over a dozen for maximum efficiency, but we'll get there. But first, I had to finish soldering this new Specter's optical motherboard together.

I was sitting at the elongated workbench with the Specter's body stretched out over it. Its head panel was open, and my soldering iron was deep inside its head as I worked away on the motherboard. My left eye was closed as I gazed through a magnifying lens over my right eye, similar to that of the lens gem appraisers use to see the value of gemstones. But for precise soldering. Fresh sent of heated solder filled my nose as the tip of the soldering rod sparked onto the motherboard.

I leaned back in my chair as I finished my work. I flipped up the lens and exhaled deeply. "Finally, done," I said and quickly welded the Specter's head shut.

I stretched myself out to reach a metal-encased power cable hanging on the opposite side of the workbench.

"Okay, pray to the elements I wired everything right," I said aloud as I plugged the cable into the back of the Specter's head. The cable quickly lit up with a blue light that traveled into the Specter repetitively, Signifying a transfer of power. The Specter's eyes quickly lit up with a bright white light, and it slowly sat up.

"Okay, so far so good. Administrative login, Rileus Aromas Maximus. Prince of Romulios. Emergency boot code, R-E-A-4-9-7. " I announced to the Specter.

It sat silently for a few seconds before responding in a deep, stereotypical robotic voice. "Administrative login accepted. Greetings, Your Majesty. Initiating emergency bootup protocols."

"Cool, that part is done." I got up from my chair and left the Specter to sit and charge for a while. I returned to the forge where Romulus was at work on another order, and he hammered away at a piece of hot metal.

"Romulus, whenever you finish with that, go ahead and work your magic with the Specter back there. He's ready to go once his data is downloaded and fully charged." I said as I walked past him towards my workstation.

"Understood." He responded coldly as he continued to hammer away at the metal.

"Once you get him ready to work, set him up to make a few dozen more specters. Also, add to your personal list to make your multidirectional specter hub, um, control whatcha call it." I added as I sat down and picked up a list of orders off my bulletin board, which sat above my workbench.

"Understood. Is there anything else?" Respond as he hung his hammer on a hook attached to the anvil and moved the hot metal blade he was working on to quench it.

"Yeah, Did you make the required modifications to the Frontier yesterday per my request?" I asked as I sat down and got to work stitching together the padding for a guard's helmet.

"Yes, the Frontier is now upgraded and programmed to scan and detect High-Density Primal Magic signatures over a maximum range of thirty-three klicks, or just over 20 miles, depending on the aircraft's height. The optimal scanning height for maximum effective scanning radius would be at commercial flight cruizing altitude. Preferably forty-two-thousand feet." Romulus explained as he moved the blade to the grindstone to work on giving it its edge.

"Understood," I responded.

After that conversation, we worked in silence for a few moments before the heat got to me. Normally, the dry heat of the forge this high up the mountain wouldn't bug me. But it felt sticky and wet, like the humidity was rising. So I rolled my chair over to the lever and opened the three large service counter windows to try and get some airflow. Only for me to see the sky was darkened with clouds, and cool, crisp, rain-freshened air flowed through the windows and up my nostrils. It was incredibly relaxing to smell after not smelling it for so long.

"Romulus, did it rain today?" I asked as I stood up and leaned out the window to see ponies outside hurrying their trots to get inside.

"Not yet. It's been gloomy like that all morning. The Canterlot forecast says they were overdue for some rain. It's just taken a while for the spells to gather enough clouds to bring us some. Celestia employed the help of Rainbowdash, the local weather pony of ponyville, and a few of the wonderbolts to help gather some extra clouds from ponyville and send them up our way. Should start pouring anytime now."

As if on queue, a crackling roar of thunder ripped out as lighting soared through the sky above Canterlot. I watched as the first coat of heavy rain poured down from the sky and hit the streets. The Ponies that were still outside quickly went from fast trots to full sprints as they pulled out their umbrellas and hurried inside or down the street out of view from my forge.

I stopped what I was doing, went to the nearby storage closet, and grabbed a spare camping chair I had Romulus whip up a few months back once the forge got up and running. I took it under my arm, grabbed my father's sword off its mount on the wall, and walked outside. The wood awning hanging off the house kept me dry save for the few larger raindrops that slashed up minimal water onto my ankles. I walked around the outside of the forge to the first service window, where I could see Romulus still working inside, and sat my father's sword on top of the counter. I quickly unfolded my chair, set it up to face the storm, and sat down. I reached around me to my father's sword, removed it from its scabbard, and stabbed it into the ground, facing the storm as well.

I sat there in silence as I watched the storm with my father like we used to. At least, that's what I wanted to think. And my dad, whenever a good lightning storm hit the city, we would sit on one of the castle balconies and watch the lighting and rain. My dad always made time for that whenever a storm rolled in. However, after the war started, those moments were few and far between. It never took him long to start rating the lightning and the thunder that followed. I loved him for that and just being able to make time to hang out, as father and son.

I let out a long sigh I felt like I had been holding in since I crash-landed in Everfree forest. I leaned back in the camping chair and draped my arm over the back of it, finally being able to truly 'relax' for the first time in Elements, no matter how long. I watched as puddles formed in the streets outside my forge. I looked up into the thunderheads above whenever a bright white flash of lightning illuminated the sky and waited for the thunder to grace my ears. I don't know what it was about a casual thunderstorm that was just so calming to me despite the chaos that it sowed. The dim lighting, the rolling thunder, the rain hitting the roof, even the smell of fresh rain. All of it was just so fucking soothing. But, even at this moment, something was missing. Not just my dad, but something else. Then it hit me, yet I couldn't remember its name for my life.

I turned around in my chair and looked at Romulus inside the forge, who had finished his work and was working away on the next hunk of metal in the forge with his hammer.

"Romulus, what was the name of that song I used to listen to while I was alone or when it was raining?" I asked.

Romulus paused and turned to me with a hint of sincerity in his eyes for the first time in a week. "No rain, I believe. Would you like me to put it on, sir?"

"On repeat, please. I'm gonna be out here for a while." I responded, resettling myself back into my chair.

"Of course, sir," Romulus responded.

Almost instantly after, the song started playing over the exterior speakers. I figured the ponies would enjoy some music whenever they passed by the forge, so I installed them on the outside, too, and for this specific reason, I was using them for now.

Now, finally, I had hit the peak. I sank in my chair while also stretching out; my still injured feet slid across the ground and lifted about an inch in the air out past the awning. They were slowly getting wet from the rain. The water was cold yet soothing. I closed my eyes and started humming along to the song as I sat there in a relaxed state of dreaming for what felt like hours. It was more than welcome.

"Enjoying the rain?" I heard a familiar voice hit my ears as I slowly opened my eyes to see Shining Armor looking at me with a content smirk. Situated in his armor with his helmet on within a pink forcefield bubble conjured by his horn. The pink magic shield was covered in water droplets and still pelted by the rain.

"You bet," I responded, closing my eyes again and sitting back up in my chair.

I got comfy and reopened my eyes to see Shining Armor sit beside me on the ground.

"Care if I join you?" He asked as he dropped his force field, took off his helmet with his hooves, and set it on the ground beside him.

"Not at all."

We sat silently for a few moments, watching the storm before Shining spoke again.

"So, I guess you like the rain, huh?" He said with a nervous chuckle.

"It reminds me of home and my dad," I responded.

"You must really love your dad, considering how much everything reminds you of him."

I sat up and leaned forward before responding. "Shining, My dad was my role model, my hero, my everything, including my king. Of course there's a lot of things that remind me of him. But something we'd always do is sit outside during storms like this and just watch. For as long as three to four hours on some occasions. We'd always talk about the lightning and rate it based on how bright it was and how much the thunder rattled our bodies."

I looked over to the sword planted on the ground next to me and rested my hand on its pommel. "There isn't a day that goes by where I don't miss him."

We sat in silence for a few more minutes before Shining asked the big question.

"What happened to him?" He asked, causing my heart to sink in my chest. "I Remember what you said when I threw you onto my back in the Everfree Forest. That sword was the last thing your father gave you before he died. Or at least that's what I assumed you would say based on your body language."

I leaned back in my chair and got choked up rather quickly, my eyes getting watery. Shining took notice of this.

"You don't have to say anything you don't want to, I know it's touchy, but I was just curious!"

I cleared my throat, wiped my eyes, and recomposed myself as best as possible.

"The reason my father and I were working on a ship to break orbit was because our planet was dying." I started, silencing Shining Armor. "The Frontier was as far as we got before our end came. You see, another kingdom in our twelve-kingdom alliance called the 'The Table of Twelve' called Chentual, the kingdom of many. They Resented the Elementals and claimed they were false gods and that mankind should rule the natural world however they see fit to renounce the following of the Elemental's teachings despite the prosperity that came from it. Enough backlash from this kingdom's ideals and arguments with the other kingdoms eventually caused increasing disagreement on customs, trade, and other aspects of our peaceful world."

I paused, taking a moment to watch the rain before continuing. "Eventually, during my people's most sacred event, called the festival of the lost, we dedicate three days to this event. We celebrated the present, the future, and the past in that exact order. The first day was the biggest and was always better than the last; we had a parade, a dragon flight show similar to what the wonderbolts do, the world's biggest feast, and a night full of parting."

I paused again, noticing Romulus had stopped what he was doing and was now listening to the conversation as he leaned against the counter from the inside and also watched the rain.

Nonetheless, I continued. "The second day was a look to the future, where the dragon riders held a ceremony in the town square to find the next generation of dragon riders. The Riders would bring down roughly a dozen dragon eggs to the center of each of the capital cities of each kingdom. Any Child or Teen within the twenty to fifty years of age range could partake in the ceremony. The Child or Teen would place their hand upon each of the eggs for roughly two or three minutes. If the egg hatched, they would be inducted into the Dragon Rider's ranks as a trainee. If they didn't hatch, They would return to their families and continue their lives as normal. My whole life, I wanted to be a Dragon Rider despite my mother's preachings about focusing on my future as king. Yet, I would still partake in every ceremony we had every four years during the festival."

I paused again, prepping myself for the last part. Shining Armor was listening very closely as he noticed the shift on my face to one of sorrow.

"The festival's final day was a look to the past, to reflect on where we came from and how far we've come on life's journey. We would remember those no longer with us through memories and remembrance. Throughout the evening, we would be in the company of our loved ones and make these little boats with a candle on them, and we would put offerings that held those very memories of lost loved ones. At the moon's first light, we sent these boats down the river that flowed through the center of our kingdom into the ocean. Once all the boats had flowed out to sea, once the moon was raised a full sail's length above the horizon. The king of Romulios would use the sort that sits in the ground beside me and plant it in the same slot atop the castle's highest tower where the Elementals first forged it and let loose its power. Where the memories of those trinkets in those boats would come to life and let the spirits of our dead loved ones cross over into the realm of the living until the sun's first light. Letting us live one last night with them until the next festival would come along, and we'd do it all over again."

Shining Armor's eyes went wide as I finished. "Wait, wait, wait, hold up. You're telling me that sword right next to you has the power to let the dead cross into the realm of the living?"

"No, that would be absurd," I responded. Shining's face contorted in confusion. I gave a small chuckle and explained. "It has the power to connect the souls of those in my people's memories to the trinkets that they put in the boats. The power of that link lets the Souls take on a Partial corporeal form. In a very literal sense, the souls of those who died do technically cross the veil into the land of the living for one night. But the magical science behind it I could talk to you about for hours. But in the very short and simple version, the sword brings memory to life for one night so you can tell your loved ones in the afterlife what's been going on in the living world."

"Wow, that's one heck of a celebration," Shining said as he looked up and leaned back against the wall of my forge, deep in thought.

"Yeah, that's why what Chentual did during this sacred event was so horrid and evil that we denounced them as humans."

Shining armor looked back over at me with a look of worry.

"During the last festival I partook in, everything went according to plan until the third and final day. We had just begun placing the boats in the river when it happened." I stopped myself, not sure if I wanted to proceed or not.

"What happened?" Shining asked.

Romulus took my pause to cut in. "Just a quick note before Master Riley continues his tale. During the festival, nobody worked, not even the guards on the walls or anyone in the military for that matter, unless they really wanted to. It was only right that every living human got the chance to partake in the festival."

"Why would I need to know that?" Shining asked.

"Because it makes what Riley is about to tell you that much more cowardly on Chentual's part, we never new what was coming because there was no one on the walls to warn us." Romulus responded.

"What?" Shining was so confused until I spoke.

"Right when we began lowering the small boats into the water, We heard screams as men dressed in full suits of armor bearing Chentual's seal appeared in the city and began slaughtering everyone they could see, no matter if it was man, women, or child," I said whilst clenching my teeth with anger.

Shining's look of shock and horror caught my eye, yet I continued.

"They used improvised explosives to blow open houses and set fire to the infrastructure of the city. They invaded our city during the one time of the year when no one held a weapon. My father was quicker than I was to do anything, as I was frozen in shock and fear. We were on a royal balcony overlooking the whole scene. He Ordered the Dragon riders to take action against the invaders and Told Romulus to activate the emergency automated militia. He ordered everybody who could take up arms against this threat to do so. Even grabbed a blade himself and leaped forth from the balcony to protect his people. Within minutes, the city was in chaos. Families were dead in the streets. Robots like Romulus were fighting with this invading force while everyone was just trying to stay alive. Ultimately, our mages were the tide-turners in this horrid event. As Chentual pretty much outlawed any of its people from using Elemental magic. But it was I who actually gave us the chance to win that night."

Shining armor was horrified. He had no words other than "How?"

"Our chief of security was a traitor. He had opened the main gate remotely inside the castle and let the Enemy in to slaughter our people. My mother, my sister, Romulus, several royal guards, and myself were being escorted to an emergency saferoom inside the castle. When we came across a group of Chentual's men who engaged with the guards. Romulus took my family up to the royal bedroom, as that was the only safe place to go after we were cut off. Romulus wanted to lock us in my mom and dad's bedroom while he got the rest of the automated defenses online. But I refused to sit in a dark room and wait for things to improve. Me and him argued for a bit before I just told him that if I didn't go with him, I'd end up sneaking out and going by myself. Which kinda forced him to take me with him to keep an eye on me. We stopped by my room to grab the suit of armor and the sword I'd been using to practice with since Romulus refused to let me go anywhere without some protection. We made our way down to the lower levels of the castle. Romulus quickly dispatched anyone who got in our way with an energy cannon in his arms that literally turned people to ash through their armor. When we got to the central control hub for the city, the chief of security was there waiting for us."

I paused to take a few seconds to breathe as I'd been going without breathing much this whole story. Thankfully, Romulus took over for the intermission.

"When His Majesty and I got to the control hub, our chief of security, Meifer, used an emergency to override his position, open the main gate, and let Chentual invade the city without difficulty. I made to stop that by overriding his position with my own higher clearance, but he had a device that locked me out of the control hubs database for as long as he was breathing. So, I had to either manually plug into the hub to override his position or kill him. I could have done both rather easily. If a drugged-up super soldier didn't surprise me from behind." Romulus explained.

"Another thing Chentual did to disgrace the Elements. They used illegal methods to enhance their soldiers' ability to be super powerful and resist elemental magic. Which essentially gave people the ability to become immune to nature. Which in it of itself broke several Elemental laws, not to mention gave birth to a new generation of genetically enhanced super soldiers. One of which kept Romulus busy while the chief of security engaged with me in sword-to-sword combat. This was my first real battle outside training. So, I was fighting for my life against an incredibly skilled opponent. There were a few moments during that fight where I thought I was gonna die." I continued.

"But, you're here now, so you must have won! Right?" Shining stated.

"Yes, I did win that fight with the skin of my teeth and had taken several wounds in the process. But I lost my innocence." I responded.

"What does that mean?" Shining asked, confused.

I got frustrated with that question. "SHINING! I had the mental age of a filly at the time this all happened! I was still a child! Imagine if you were a kid with all your childhood bliss and innocence, Was forced into a fight to the death where in the end, you had to desperately shove your blade into your opponent's THROAT and watch blood drip down your blade and onto your face while bleeding from several places on your body. YOU DON'T REALLY COME OUT THE SAME AFTER THAT!" I shouted. All the pent-up rage I had been storing up came out at Shining Armor.

Shining was taken aback, but then he thought about it for a second. He could only nod in agreement when he reached his conclusion.

I decided to finish my story. "Now, after this, Romulus was able to remotely take back control of the defenses of the city, and with that, we were able to drive Chentual's forces out of the city and send them running. We won, at a cost."

"The lives of the innocents that were lost in the battle?" Shining Commented.

"Not just that." I retorted. "When Romulus and I made our way back to the royal bedroom where my mother and sister were hiding, we ran into my father. Who was happy to see I was alive despite my being covered in blood. However, when we made it to my mom and dad's bedroom. Several men in armor lay dead outside and inside the room, both of my kingdom and Chentual's."

"Oh no," Shining whispered.

"While I and I retook control of the city, an assassin's team from Chentual broke into my parent's room; the royal guards defended them as best they could. But were ultimately outmatched by my mother. Being the power magic-user she was, she was able to dispatch the assassins and defend my sister... at the cost of her life."

I felt a singular tear drip down my face. "I still remember my father and I rushing to her side while she drew her final breaths. I'll never forget that night. Not in a million years."

"Sweet Celestia, being put through so much at such a young age. Im surprised you kept it together." Shining said, trying to be supportive, putting a hoof on my shoulder.

"Oh, I didn't. I lost my shit." I commented.

"Huh?" Shining said, confused.

"That night, that same situation happened at every single kingdom in the table of twelve, aside from Chentual. Romulus looked into our chief of security logs and diary. Chentual had organized that night for the last thousand years. Turning high ranking officials traitors, importing spies and sleeper cells into each of the kingdoms so that way they could strike a crippling blow to the entire world so could get the upper hand in the war that followed that night."

"War!?" Shining Stated loudly, his face filled with shock.

"Yes, war. My military training I mentioned? I earned that fighting on the front lines, leading my men into hell. My squad consisted of my generals and closest friends I had made in that hell."

"Oh my gosh, everything makes so much more sense now," Shining said as he began to pace back and forth in front of me. "The drinking, the nightmares, the panic attacks. YOU have PTSD!"

"NO SHIT! I got a lot of shit from that hell!"

"Why didn't you tell anyone about this before?" Shining demanded stomping a hoof.

I stared at Shining armor with an annoyed expression. "My problems are my own. Why Would I forsake an entire nation's innocence with my problems?"

"Forsake an entire nation's innocence? What in the name of Celestia are you talking about?" Shining asked, even more confused.

"This world. This dimension. Its innocence is pure and natural. Imagine if myself, a seed of war. Just came in here and started preaching to the world about the war my people fought or essentially religious beliefs. I know how sentient races work. People would start to think, and those thoughts could lead to questions, questions that could lead to uprisings. Uprisings that can lead to war! Why Would I even consider risking that in a world filled with peace after the last world I was in was destroyed?"

"Wait, your world was destroyed?" Shining asked.

"And thus, we reach the end of my tale," I responded. "After twenty long years of war, we managed to push Chentual forces back to their capital city using a strategy called 'Rising and Falling tides.' I won't go into detail about it other than it worked way too well against Chentual's blitzkrieg tactics of plowing through our front lines before we could even set them up. But in the end, everyone lost the war."

"What do you mean 'everyone lost?'" Shining asked as he sat down in front of me.

"Cataclysm bombs." Those very words sent shivers down my spine. "World-ending superweapons developed by Chentual in secret. They dropped three prototype versions on our eleven kingdoms' combined armies outside the capital, wiping out a few billion souls in three separate explosions."

"By Celestia." Shining gasped as I could see a shiver get sent down his spine.

"I was in the blast radius of one of these explosions. But thanks to this talisman." I paused and reached down my shirt to reveal the necklace with my ryal pendant and the dog tags of my friends. Grabbing the pendant and holding it up. "I was transported back to the capital city of Romulios. My body was fully restored. Yet I still felt the explosion rip the flesh from my bone and boil my eyes out of their sockets. I felt my organs turn to liquid from the shockwave and then to ash in a split second before it was all reverted, thanks to my talisman. They call it a 'Spare the dying' talisman. It's incredibly hard to make and is given to royals only due to their important standing in the world. I lived to warn the kingdoms of the impending threat. My friends did not."

Shining had no words; he just sat there trying to comprehend the scale of a weapon that powerful.

"It gets worse. A week after that, we were greeted by the emperor of Chentual, who sent a global message to all the kingdoms. It was long, but it essentially said, 'You may have beaten me, but I'll make sure nobody wins.'" As he dropped a full-scale version of the cataclysm bomb on the kingdom of Grasioer. The kingdom of agriculture is the main source of food for the content. In a flash of blinding lat, they ended in a mushroom cloud and turned into a fiery maelstrom of forcibly mixed Elemental magic. Chentual turned an entire city into a crater, like THAT." I snapped my fingers for more emphasis. "BILLIONS OF PEOPLE DEAD IN AN INSTANT! THAT'S WHAT I SEE IN MY NIGHTMARES SHINING! OVER AND OVER EVERY TIME I SLEEP THAT'S WHAT I SEE, THAT'S WHAT I FEEL!" I shouted into his face before just falling forward, putting my head in my hands as I cried.

"After that, the Empoer sent out another message every month after that. Saying he was gonna leave Romulios last on his list right before he bombed another kingdom off the map. Mocking and taunting us. After he dropped the third bomb, the leftover cataclysmic energy gathered and corrupted the natural Elements of nature, causing an Element fallout to cover the world. A never-ending pitch-black thunderstorm with red lightning and deathly rain that deliberately targeted living souls and removed them from existence if anyone got struck by it. Romulios had our capital's shield generator that gave us protection from the storm. The other kingdoms weren't so lucky. We tried to fit as many people from the other kingdom as we could under our shield, but eventually, we couldn't send anyone out on top of running out of food to sustain ourselves. The oceans eventually became so polluted by rain that even swimming in it dissolved a human in seconds. So, me and my father agreed as the last surviving members of our family, as both my sister and my mother died in the war. We had to leave our planet by any means necessary. We put all our kingdoms into developing a method to get off the world as quickly as possible. When we were the last city left, and it was our turn to get bombed." I stopped and gestured to the Frontier sitting out in the rain.

"That's as far as we got. My father, in a last-ditch effort to save our people, culture, and history, sent Romulus and me along with all of the remaining unbound arcanums left in the world and all the magical artifacts we had in Romulios. In that craft, attempt to break orbit and escape the blast. Instead, we ended up here, and you already know the rest." I finished and leaned back in my chair.

"Does that mean... You're?" Shining asked slowly, as if realizing what he was about to ask was true before he even said it.

"Yup, Im the last remaining remnant of my people. I am the last human. And I have to live with that till the day I die." I answered.

"I... I don't even know... what to do with all this now." shining said as he looked down at his hooves.

"Keep it a secret," I told him.

"WHAT?!" He shouted in shock. "How do you expect me to keep THAT a secret?"

"I don't care how. Just make sure no one else finds out. I originally wanted this secret to die with me. But since Dragon lord Torch knows and I trust you-"

"DRAGON LORD TORCH KNOWS?!" Shining shouted again.

"Motherfucker stop shouting! Yes, he knows. I won't explain the details in accordance with my agreement with him. But now that you know, you will keep it under wraps, okay? If I didn't trust you to keep this secret, I wouldn't have told you and kept lying like I have been." I responded as I stared at Shining Armor, waiting for his response.

"Goshdangit Riley. Okay, I guess I'll try to keep this secret." Shining Responded.

"Good, now, if you'll please get out of my view. I need more of natures therapy to keep my ass sane."

From Beyond the Veil

by Buckedlobster82

Crash landed

First Contact

Ponies? Interesting...

Insomnia

Recovery Pt.1

Recovery Pt.2

Opening day

Nightmares and Potential

Normality is weird

performance issues

Frontier Flight

Matchmaker

Here be... not Dragons?

intervention

Natures Therapy