The journey through the castle was a quick one. By this point, I was certain that the Minotaurs had intentionally led me around in circles while escorting me around the castle. Either that, or they regularly became lost. The journey down to the dining hall - a trip that had taken easily ten minutes when I had gone to dine with Adamant Will - today took a mere three minutes.
Even so, it seemed that we were already late. As Luna pushed the door open, I saw that we were the last ones to arrive for the morning meal. The other three, in fact, had already risen from their chairs, and were making their way towards the door on the opposite end of the dining hall.
Solaris and Celestia exited the room without a backwards glance. Serenity moved to leave as well, but paused as the door slammed shut behind us. Her head swiveled towards us, and her lips curved upwards in a small smile. “Ah, good morning Chris, Luna,” she greeted us as we approached. “I was beginning to wonder whether or not you were going to join us.”
“We would have been here sooner,” Luna replied, giving me a playful nudge, “If Chris here hadn’t taken his time in dragging himself out of bed.”
“As if,” I scoffed with a smirk. “I was out of that room less than a minute after I woke up.”
“Well, we’ve already finished our breakfast,” Serenity continued with a chuckle. “You two go ahead and eat up, but do try and make it quick. When you’re done, meet us near the barracks out behind the castle.”
“Is that where we’re going to to be doing these tests?” I asked.
Serenity nodded in response. “Yes. They’ll have the equipment we need to get a decent measure of your physical abilities.”
“Equipment?” I murmured. “So… what kind of tests are we talking about specifically?”
That only earned me another smile and a shake of the head. “Ah, but that would be telling,” Serenity replied. “You’ll find out when you get there.”
With that, Serenity turned and walked out of the dining hall, closing the door behind her. Luna and I were left alone, and so we took our normal seats at the table - me at the second to last seat, between where Serenity and Celestia would normally sit; and Luna directly opposite me, next to her father’s usual spot.
Breakfast passed in silence. It was the same sort of food that seemed to be the norm for the royal family - grapes, cantaloupes, carrots, a few piles of roasted hay, and so on. What stood out to me, however, were two plates full of food that I’d never seen any Pony eat before - fried eggs and ham. A glance towards Luna’s plate let me know that she was avoiding these new items, instead choosing the fruits and vegetables that I knew were more comfortable for Ponies to digest. I could only assume that these two plates had been served specifically for me, and so I helped myself to their contents, happily devouring the meal that had been left for us.
It wasn’t long before both of our plates had been cleared. Neither of us moved to take any more from the serving dishes laid out before us. As one, we rose from our seats and exited the dining hall. Luna took the lead and turned to the left, with me following right behind.
It wasn’t long before we emerged onto the back lawn of the castle. I’d only ever seen this area once before, when waiting with the Minotaurs to be led to the execution. I’ll be honest, at the time I hadn’t exactly been in the mood for sightseeing. Now, however, with panic no longer gnawing at me and no Minotaurs to distract me, I was able to fully take it in.
Not that there was much taking in to be done. The lawn itself was enormous. To be expected, considering the size of the castle. The only problem with the size of the lawn was how… empty it was. A couple of trees here and there, a few meandering paths, what looked like a hedge maze in the far corner. The rest of the massive lawn was almost entirely barren - just an empty plain of grass.
In fact, the only other feature that could be seen was what looked like a compound towards the back of the lawn, right up against the perimeter wall, with a single path leading directly from the castle towards it. A wall of stone rising from the ground, starkly contrasting the grass that surrounded it. If anything out here was going to be the barracks, that would be it - a thought that was confirmed as Luna turned down the path that lead directly towards it.
The clang of metal striking metal reached my ears as we approached the barracks. Beneath that, I could hear the occasional order barked out, though I couldn’t hear exactly what was being said. The smell of sweat and smoke filled the air. As we reached the heavy wooden doors, I heard another sound - the sound of hooves on stone. An instant later, Luna and I were forced to jump to the side as the doors flew open and a group of stallions in heavy armor ran down the path we had just come up. As the soldiers cleared the doors, Luna and I took the opportunity to slip in behind them, entering the compound as the doors slammed shut behind us.
It was a lot bigger on the inside than I had expected - at least as long as a football field in both directions, with part of the compound jutting out beyond the palace walls and into the city itself. Aside from the size, however, the interior of the compound was visually uninteresting. The main area that we had stepped into was open-air, allowing the sun to shine down into the compound.. Most of the area was taken up by a large grass field, with a paved path encircling the entire field. Doors lined the outer walls, leading into side rooms or tunnels - to where, I had way of knowing. The field itself was littered with what I assumed was training equipment. Straw and wood target dummies, Bullseyes, rocks of varying sizes lined up next to the track, racks of dull wood and stone weapons, and so on. Several dozen stallions were spread out across the field, doing their training either on their own or as a group under the watchful gaze of what were clearly drill sergeants.
I felt Luna nudge me. I turned my head towards her, and she jerked her head to her right. Sure enough, standing against the wall to our right, I could make out the familiar forms of the rest of the royal family. Celestia and Serenity seemed not to have noticed us yet, but Solaris certainly had. His face was locked in a frown, and his gaze never left me as Luna and I made our way over.
“You made it,” Serenity spoke up over the noise as we stopped a few paces away. I guess she’d noticed our arrival after all. There was none of the liveliness or humor in her voice that I’d heard earlier. Instead it was flat, almost monotone. “Thank you for coming, Chris. I assume by now you’re aware of what we’re doing here.”
“You said you wanted a measure of my physical ability.” I replied.
“We want to know what you’re capable of, yes.” That had been Solaris. His eyes still had not left me, and I felt a small shiver run down my spine as he continued. “There will be three main components today - strength, speed, and endurance. Follow me.” For the first time since I had entered the compound, Solaris’ gaze fell away from me. I released a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding and shook my head to clear it. Solaris had already begun walking away, and I fell into step behind him and Serenity, with Celestia and Luna following as well.
Solaris came to a stop next to the large boulders that had been left next to the outer paved path There were at least two dozen of them of varying sizes, stacked up in order from largest to smallest. Up close, I could see that small handles had been carved into the rocks.
“Your first test. Strength.” Solaris took a step back and pointed at the boulder closest to him - the largest one, by far. “Grab by the handles. They’ve been enchanted to grant you a stronger grip, but that will not make them any lighter. Your task is to lift this stone to your hips. If you find you cannot, move down to the next smallest one and continue until you can.
I blanched slightly as I stepped up to the first boulder. The rock was taller than I was, and nearly as broad and as thick. Even before I reached out to grab the handles, I knew I would be unable to so much as nudge it, much less deadlift it. Sure enough, the rock refused to move as I pulled upwards on the handle. I shook my head and moved down to the next one - slightly shorter, with less depth and breadth as well. Even so, it was still far too large, and it refused to move as well.
And so I moved down the row. The heavier ones were clearly intended for Earth Ponies, given their enormously increased strength. It was only at the sixth one that I was even able to budge the weight, and even then I could not lift it. I frowned as I heard Solaris scoff behind me, but ignored him as I moved on to the seventh.
Towards the middle, I could see that the lifting stones were becoming more and more shaped like barbells. Sure enough, the tenth one was a proper barbell, with two weighted stones on either end of the bar. This one I could lift a bit, but still found that I could not properly deadlift. I released my grip and moved on to the eleventh weight in the row.
“Pitiful,” I heard Solaris sneer behind me. “I lifted that one when I was twelve years old...”
My brow furrowed, but I did my best to ignore Solaris’ remarks. Instead, I reached down to grab the next barbell in the row. It was certainly heavy, and I felt a sweat break out on my forehead as I strained against the weight. Still, I could feel the weight lifting off of the ground. A moment later, and I was standing up straight with the barbell held at my hip level. “Done,” I announced as I let the weight crash back down to the ground.
“Eleven and a half stones…” I heard Serenity murmur. “Just over average for a Pegasus.”
I felt a small twinge of satisfaction. I had no way of knowing whether or not the stones used in measuring here were the same as back home, but I knew that back home that eleven and a half stones was just over 160 pounds. And the barbell had certainly felt heavy enough to roughly fit that measurement. I felt a small smirk cross my face. Not bad…
“Finally.” And just like that, one quiet snark from Solaris erased that satisfaction. I shot a glare in his direction as he continued. “Let’s move on. Speed next. This one shouldn’t take quite so long. Just run from this wall to the one on the opposite side as quickly as you can. Get ready.”
I moved to the side so that I wouldn’t trip over the barbell I had just lifted and moved backwards to press myself against the wall. A small twinge of nervousness rushed over me. I could feel that I wasn’t in as good a shape as I used to be. Not as fast. This wasn’t going to be a good one…
“On my mark.”
I bent down so that I was almost lying on the ground. The tips of my fingers touched the stone beneath me, and my foot touched the wall behind me. Hopefully that would help me get a bit of a boost.
“Go!”
As soon as the word had left Solaris’ lips, I was off. My legs churned underneath me as I sprinted across the field. I could feel the gazes of several of the stallions on the field as I raced across, but paid them no mind. They weren’t anywhere near me. They weren’t going to get in my way.
It was actually going a lot better than I had expected. My speed was good, I could tell. My breathing was paced, though certainly becoming deeper and rougher as I approached the end. The far wall was fast approaching. I skidded to a stop and slapped the wall with both hands before spinning around and extending both hands over my head. I received a similar signal from Serenity in response. I let loose a small grin as I set off at a slower jog back towards the other side.
“Thirteen seconds,” I heard Serenity say as I came to a stop a few paces away from them. That only made my grin return in full force. Thirteen seconds for roughly a hundred yard dash? Just a few seconds more than most of the guys on the track and field team back in high school.
“Disappointing.” And once again, Solaris’ voice cut into my thoughts, with an instant deflating effect. “And you claim that your species are predators? Either you must be a runt, or else I cannot -”
“Solaris, enough!” Serenity’s sharp command instantly cut the king off, and drew the stare of more than one nearby stallion. I couldn’t exactly blame them. The glare she was aiming at Solaris made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
But if Solaris was fazed, he didn’t show it. He merely shrugged and rolled his shoulders. “The final test will be that of endurance,” he continued as if nothing had happened. “We’ve seen your strength. We’ve seen your speed. Now we need to know how long you can keep it up. Your task is pretty simple. All you need to do is run around the edge of the drill grounds until you can go no further. I don’t care how fast you’re going, so long as it’s faster than a walk. Just keep it up for however long you can.”
As Solaris spoke, I could feel a sly grin crossing my face. The grin didn’t fade as he fell silent. If anything, it grew wider. “Just… as long as I can, huh?” I repeated. “I hope you all don’t have any pressing plans for the rest of the morning.”
“Confident, are we?” Solaris smirked. “Fifty bits says you don’t last twenty minutes.”
“I’ll take that bet.”
“But Chris!” Luna exclaimed. “You don’t have - “
I merely waved my hand. “I’m not worried.” I chuckled. “Just tell me when to start.”
I glanced back towards Solaris, taking note of the look of confusion on his face. Clearly he’d not expected me to take his wager so willingly. But he clearly was unwilling to back down from it. His brow furrowed, and he held one hand up in the air. “Get ready. Go!”
And I was off. Not nearly as fast as my sprint across the center, but at a reasonable jog. A light breeze rushed past me, and I felt my grin return. Solaris was in for a nasty shock…
The first lap was slow - close to three minutes, by my estimation. As I passed, Solaris, I could see that cocky smirk plastered across his face. He said nothing, and I refused to make eye contact as I jogged past him.
The second lap passed much as the first. And the third. And the fourth. And the fifth. Sweat lined my forehead by now. My breathing was deeper, more deliberate. But I wasn’t finished. Not by a long shot. Even out of shape, I knew how long I could keep up this pace. And I was getting only getting faster.
Twenty minutes came and went. I’d done seven laps, and still wasn’t even close to my limit. I flashed the royal family a grin as I finished lap eight and continued past them.
Half an hour in, and I’d begun timing myself. At this point, the royal family had removed themselves from the running track, instead standing with their backs to the wall as I ran my circles. The lap times were now a consistent two and a half minutes, give or take a couple of seconds. Every few seconds, I did a quick once-over. My legs were beginning to burn, but I knew that it would be a while before they truly started to hurt. I was breathing properly, making sure I had enough air. I’d wipe the sweat away every now and then. Other than that, I was focused on my run.
By now, the other stallions in the area had started to take notice. I caught glimpses of a few of them staring as I made my laps, and more than one leaned in to whisper to another. I tried to ignore the attention I was receiving, but given how blatant it was becoming, it was pretty hard to do.
And it wasn’t just the soldiers staring. Solaris’ smirk had long vanished, transforming into an expression of disbelief. Serenity maintained her usual mask of neutrality. Celestia seemed nearly as shocked as her father, while Luna was doing her best not to laugh at their dumbfounded expressions.
At one point, around the forty-five minute mark, I passed by a pair of Earth Ponies by the weights I had attempted to lift earlier, their backs to the track and to me. “What is that thing made of?” I heard one of them ask as I approached. “He’s got to be slowing down by now…”
“No…” the second muttered. He glanced over his shoulder at me as I passed, but quickly averted his gaze. “No… I think he’s just hitting his stride…”
And so I was. My breathing was regular, the burning wasn’t getting any worse, I was easily able to keep wiping sweat away as needed. It wasn’t a fast pace, certainly not a full-on sprint, but a brisk jog. And for this demonstration, that was all I needed.
Finally, after what must have been at least an hour and a half, I spotted Serenity walking onto the track ahead of me, one arm outstretched in front of her. I gradually slowed my pace until I had come to a mere stroll a few dozen yards away from her.
“I must admit, Chris, that I am… shocked,” Serenity began. “Even an Earth Pony would be exhausted after such an effort, and yet you look no worse for wear.”
I continued to walk past Serenity, walking a small circle on the track. I knew I had to keep moving, at least a little bit. I had to keep the blood flowing or else risk getting dizzy after such a long jog. Still, I couldn’t help but shoot her a grin as I walked my small circle. “It would have caught up to me eventually," I half-panted, "but I could have kept that up for a while yet. And I’m not even as good shape as I was before I came here.” My gaze snapped towards Solaris, whose expression had not changed since I had slowed down. “You owe me fifty bits, by the way.”
Solaris shook his head as if to clear it. “I have to admit, that was… impressive,” he muttered. “How did you do that? What training did you have to go through?”
“No training.”
“None?” That had been Celestia who had spoken up. She now drew closer, standing between Serenity and Solaris a few paces away from the circle I was walking.
“Nothing outside of the normal stuff Humans do to keep in shape,” I explained. “A little jogging, weight lifting, that sort of thing. We’re just built for this kind of thing.”
Serenity cocked her head to the side. “What do you mean, ‘built for this’?”
“Well, as I’ve told you, Humans are, by nature, predators,” I began. “Humans are the only species on Terra with any level of intelligence required for civilization. Every other creature is just… an animal. Sentient, yes, but not sapient as you and I are. In recent times, we’ve turned to agriculture, but before we began developing our civilization, we were hunters and gatherers”
“Even then, our greater intelligence helped us. We used tools to bring down prey that we would normally be unable to hunt. But of course, the hunt involves actually catching your prey before you can bring it down. And as you’ve seen today, Human’s aren’t exactly the fastest creatures ever.”
“So?” Solaris interrupted. “What does this have to do with -”
I held up a hand to cut him off. “I’m getting to that,” I chided. “So, Human’s aren’t that fast. Even back before we settled down and developed civilization, we couldn’t nearly match the short bursts of speed our prey could put out. But we had a skill that made us the alphas, the apex predators of our world.”
“Our endurance. We couldn’t hope to match the speed of some of our prey, but we could track it. We could follow prints in the dirt, tufts of fur in branches, scrapes against tree bark. We could pursue our prey to the ends of the earth and back again. And no matter how far we had to go, no matter how long it took, we would get our target. The creature would be left on the ground, too exhausted to struggle as we caught up and claimed our next meal.”
By this point, Luna and Celestia had visibly blanched. I nodded in their direction. “You see? You understand how terrifying that must be?” I asked. “From the perspective of our prey? To know that no matter how fast you ran, how far you got away, that the predator would track you down until you physically could not run any more. And bear in mind that, while Humans can’t use magic, neither can anything else on Terra. If you can’t fight and can’t run, then it’s over.”
Serenity took a half pace forward. “And… exactly how far could you track your prey?” she asked. “What are the limits of your endurance?”
“Humans can take far more abuse than you’d think, looking at us,” I replied. By now, I'd stopped walking my circle, and was instead turned to face the royal family fully. “It wouldn’t be painless, nor would it be without consequences in both the short and long term, but Humans have endured some incredible circumstances. Humans can go up to three minutes without air, three days without water, upwards of a week with no sleep, and three weeks without food. We live in climates as harsh as the Sahara desert or the frozen polar region. We’ve survived being cast adrift at sea for months, or lost in the mountains or in the jungles for weeks at a time. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again - we were built to endure punishment. And we turned that endurance into one of our greatest weapons, along with our intelligence, in order to become the apex predator of our world.”
Silence descended upon us as I finished my explanation. Silence broken only by the sound of the soldiers training around us, but even that seemed almost muted and distant. I glanced over each one of the royals in turn, trying to get some idea of what they were thinking. Solaris’ expression was that of guarded curiosity. I could tell that his perspective of me had shifted, though to what I couldn’t say. Did he see me as even more of a threat now? A potential ally? I couldn’t tell.
Serenity and Celestia both wore carefully guarded expressions that betrayed no emotion. It was clear which one of her parents Celestia had taken after. Neither one afforded me any insight into their thoughts on me.
Luna, on the other hand… She made no attempt to conceal her thoughts. Curiosity was plain as day, as well as a hint of fear. I could only imagine the shift of perspective that had occurred in her mind after my speech. Before, I’d just been Chris - a friend, an almost accidental hero perhaps. What I was now? I could only speculate.
But my speculation was cut off as Serenity cleared her throat. “Well that was certainly… insightful,” She began. Behind her, I could see Solaris motion towards the princesses. The three gave a backwards glance at me in unison as they walked away, towards the door at the end of the training grounds. Serenity and I both watched as the door swung open, and then shut closed behind them.
As soon as the door had closed, Serenity let out a sigh. “Thank you for doing this today, Chris,” she began “And I’m sorry about how Solaris has been acting. Just give it a little while and I’m sure he’ll come around.”
I shook my head. “I hope so…” I murmured. Luna had said essentially the same thing the night before, but especially considering his attitude towards me today, I was hardly convinced.
“Now, there is one other bit of business to discuss before we part for the day.” Serenity shot another glance towards the door before leaning in close to me. “Meet with Luna in the library after dinner tonight. There is something she and I have arranged there. And make sure Solaris doesn’t know.”
I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. “Keeping secrets from the king?” I whispered back. “What are you -”
“Just trust me. It’s best he not know quite yet.”
A small knot formed in the pit of my stomach. My first day as a semi-permanent resident of Equestria, and I was already being told to keep secrets from the crown. But if Serenity was sure… “Alright. If you say so.”
“Thank you, Chris.” Serenity did something I had never seen her do. A mischievous grin flashed across her face, and she patted my shoulder. A show of emotion unlike anything I’d seen out of her before.
“Trust me. It’ll be worth it.”