//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: The Saint // by PandaMan //------------------------------// Chapter 1 The sun shone high in the bright sky. Its warmth radiated through the air as a fluffy, white cloud slowly floated before it. The cloud slowly made its journey before it suddenly turned a dark grey colour with the sky around it having turned from day to night with the moon hanging in the same sky as night covered the land. Both the sun and the moon hung a few meters apart from each other, shining and illuminating onto the land below. On the ground below, in a deep ravine, a male figure was on his knees with bits of white and black broken armor, dripping with blood, hanging off his body. To his sides were two female anthropomorphic ponies. The pony on the right had white fur and white wings sprouting from her back and pony ears and a unicorn horn protruding from her head. Her disheveled mane and tail were a mix of cobalt, bright pink, turquoise, and cerulean. Dirt and blood covered her body as well as the torn, white dress she wore. The figure on his left was another teenager like the first one except she was younger with slightly smaller navy blue wings and navy blue fur and a shorter pony ears and horn coloured the same colour as well as light and midnight blue hair. Her appearance and black clothing was in a similar state as the older mare. Both girls knelt next to the male in between them who held a broadsword in his right hand. The blade was bright gold while the handle was jet black with the hilt being a crystal white and  designed in the shape of a tree. The branches had five coloured gems imbedded in them while the trunk had a slightly larger gem in the middle. The male firmly gripped the handle of the sword and slowly got to his feet. As he moved, blood slowly oozed out from between his armor. The two mares quickly got to their feet and wrapped their arms around his with tears in their eyes. “Please. You don’t have to do this.” The older girl said in a sad tone. “I have to. Or else Equestria will not hold.” The male replied as he slowly began to hobble to the stone wall on the far end of the ravine, where there was a growing crack on the ground that had a white and black beam of light erupting. The mares looked at the male with sadness in their eyes before they reluctantly let go of his arms. The armored figure continued to hobble, using the sword to keep him on his feet, until he reached the crack. He looked up into the sky and smiled before he raised the sword with both hands and jammed the blade deep into the crack up to the handle guard. All was quiet for a few seconds as the male took a few steps back before the crystal tree on the hilt glowed bright along with the imbedded gems. Suddenly, a shockwave propelled the male back and the tree, along with the gems, grew until the tree was the size of a great oak tree with roots digging deep in the ground and the gems were the size of an average fist. All around them, the scene shifted as the sun began to raise and the moon began to lower, bringing the light of day to the land to reveal smoke and rubble scattered throughout the land. The armored male gave a tired smile before he fell onto his front before the tree as more blood flowed from his body. The mares quickly ran to him and knelt at his sides before they turned him onto his back. Both of them had tears streaming from their eyes as the older one placed the male’s heavily bruised head on her lap. “Connor! CONNOR!” The younger mare cried as the male gently placed his hands on their cheeks. “Tia. Lulu. Look out for each other, ok?” Connor smiled before a golden light surrounded his body. Both mares continued to cry as his body slowly turned into threads of light which drifted up into the air until all that was left was the armor that he wore. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Princess Celestia slowly opened her eyes as she felt her body was being shaken. She looked to her left to see Princess Luna with a concerned look on her face. “Morning, Luna. What's wrong?” The Sun Princess asked as she sat up in her bed and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “Apologies for waking thee, sister.  But ‘tis five minutes past the spelleth thee art meanteth to raiseth the sun ” Luna said as her older sister stood up from her bed and walked to the balcony. Celestia took a deep breath before her horn glowed and the sun slowly rose up in the sky, colouring the sky with a bright orange hue. With a satisfying smile, Celestia retreated back into her room to where Luna was sitting on her bed. “Is there anything else?” the smaller Princess shifted a bit as she watched Celestia go into the bathroom. “Apologies, sister.  Whence we came in, we did see thee were crying in thy slumber.  So we hath decided to enter thy dream” Celestia said nothing as she ran a bath and stripped off her nightgown. “You were dreaming of him again.” Silence followed as Celestia sat down in her bathtub before she let out a sigh. “I just miss him so much, Luna.” She answered as she washed her body. “We understand, sister.” The Moon Princess said. “We miss him much as well.” Celestia sat in her tub in silence as she thought about her dream before she shook her head and quickly finished washing herself before she got out of her tub. With a small glow of her hand, a pristine, white, flowing dress covered her body. After brushing her mane and tail, she donned her royal regalia before exiting her bedroom and heading to the throne room. Luna watched her sister leave before she let out a sigh and left to her own room to get some rest from the night court. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was mid day in the quiet town of Ponyville. The residents were out and about. Greeting each other with a smile and wave, some stopping for small chats as they went about their daily business. A scream erupted from the town’s local library which was a large, hollowed out oak tree with thousands of books, as well as other objects levitating inside in a purple glow. The owner of said glow was a young, lavender, Unicorn mare with a purple mane and tail with a single pink streak going down both of them. She wore a white dress shirt with a picture of a purple star designed on the right sleeve. Her purple, plaid skirt swished around as she frantically searched through the levitating objects. “Where is it, where is it?!” She spoke in frustration. From another room of the tree house walked in a young, dragon with purple scales and green spikes running in a line from the top of his head to the tip of his purple tail. The reptile stood a head shorter than the woman in a green t-shirt and purple shorts as he looked up at the tornado of books, furniture, and other household objects spinning around the librarian. “Twilight. What are you doing?” The boy asked in disbelief. “It's absolutely terrible, Spike! I can’t find the quill that my brother gave to me the day we left Canterlot! I hope the parasprites didn’t eat it.” Spike could only slap his clawed hand on his face before he held up a purple and azure blue quill. “You left it under your pillow when you were writing that letter to Princess Celestia on your bed last night.” Suddenly, all the levitating objects dropped to the floor as Twilight ran to Spike and snatched the quill from the dragon’s claw. “Oh, thank goodness. I thought I would never see it again!” She exclaimed before the library door opened and five mares entered the treehouse. Two of them were cyan blue and yellow pegasi. The cyan mare had a rainbow colored tail and a rainbow colored mane and was wearing a white t-shirt and a pair black jeans. The yellow pegasus had a long, pale pink mane that covered one half of her face while the other side was left exposed and a long tail of the same color. She was wearing an orange turtleneck along with an orange skirt that went down to her knees. The Unicorn with white fur had a deep violet mane and a tail that was put into curls at the end. Her attire consisted of a white blouse and purple skinny jeans. The fourth mare had pink fur and a large, poofy pink mane and tail and was wearing a hot pink shirt with balloons on the breast pocket and white shorts while the fifth mare had a yellow, blonde mane and tail and was tied at the bottom with two elastic bands and was wearing a red flannel shirt and blue jeans with a brown stetson on her head in between two orange pony ears. “What’s with all the loud screaming, Twi?” The blonde mare asked in a southern accent. “I hope that it’s nothing serious.” The yellow pegasus said in a meek tone. “It’s probably something that she had lost in plain sight again.” The rainbow haired mare said as she hovered in the air with her arms crossed. “Now, Rainbow Dash. Don’t be so rude.” The violet haired mare said with an elegant voice. “Oh! Oh! Did you have a big sneeze and caused an explosion of magic like last time?” The pink haired mare inquired in a hyperactive manner. “No. It wasn’t that, Pinkie.” Twilight responded. “I had just lost one of my favourite quills.” She said as she put the quill in the drawer of one of the desks that Spike had fixed and cleaned. “Welp. How about you have an apple to calm yourself down.” The southern mare smiled as she pulled an apple out of her pocket. “Thanks, AppleJack. And thank you for worrying about me, Fluttershy.” The librarian spoke to the two. “Well, darlings. As much as I’d want to stay and chat, I need to get back to my boutique and finish up my orders.” The white unicorn said as she turned to exit the library. “Sorry for distracting you from your work, Rarity.” Twilight apologised as the rest of the girls began to exit the tree. When they were outside, the sky started turning a dark red hue which had caught the attention of all the town dwellers as they watched the strange event. “Rainbow. Are ya trying to prank us again?” Applejack said as she glared at the rainbow haired flier. “Hey! I may be good at pranks, but I’m not capable of doing this.” She replied as she pointed to the red sky. Suddenly, the sky seemed to rip open as a large object fell out of the black hole onto the far side of town, creating a large explosion which shook the ground. “What, in Celestia’s sake, is going on here?” Rarity exclaimed. “I dunno. But we should go check it out.” The librarian replied as the six of them took off to where they saw the strange object land. When they reached the location, what they saw horrified them. The object was a creature that looked like a large, brown dragon with a lion’s mane and multiple horns protruding out of it’s body. The creature looked at the mares before it gave a menacing laugh. “Rejoice you lowlifes, for your day of reckoning has come and you shall all give up your lives for my power!” It spoke in a deep voice before it took a deep breath and released a huge torrent of black flames, which destroyed a row of buildings. The town’s residences screamed and tried to escape, but a wall of horns sprouted from the ground and surrounded the town, preventing any escape. “None of you are going anywhere until I have drained you of your life!” The monster yelled before focusing his sight on Twilight and the other girls. “Starting with you six.” It smiled before extending a clawed hand to the six and grabbed them tightly, lifting them up till they were eye level with it. “I sense great power coming from the lot of you. That will make a perfect appetizers for me.” The six mares screamed and tried to struggle out of the hand as the beast opened its mouth and was about to devour them before a blast of magic collided with it’s face, causing the dragon to release the six as it fell on it’s side. Before Twilight and her friends hit the ground, a beam of magic came from the same black hole and a large pillow appeared and softened their landing. They looked down at the pillow before looking around. “Wh-what happened?” The yellow flier asked before they saw a shining object fall from the black hole and land gently next to them. When the light surrounding the object died down, they saw a tall, furless male. He had light skin and they could see black, straight hair that went down to his upper back with a short, white fringe on the side . He wore a black leather jacket with white seams which was opened at the collar to reveal an undershirt of the same color underneath. He wore a pair of black cargo pants with bits of metal sticking to it while the item of clothing was being held up by a silver belt with a white buckle in the shape of a curved “M”. A pair of boots covered his feet and black, fingerless gloves covered his hands and hanging on the belt on the right side was something that looked like the spell rifles that the castle guards used except it had a sleek silver color with black linings and looked a bit flatter. The male figure turned to look at the girls and gave a gentle smile. “Are you lot alright?” He asked. His voice was a deep tenor, sounding gentle yet commanding. The flabbergasted girls couldn’t speak and only nodded at him. Before he could say another word, the draconic creature had gotten back on its feet and glared at the male. “How dare you ruin my feeding!” It screamed before it swung a claw at the alien. The male smirked as he suddenly vanished from sight. The dragon looked for it’s target before feeling something impact it’s face, knocking it back a few steps. “Didn’t your mother teach you not to grab at things so roughly?” The alien’s voice was heard, causing the dragon to look to the left to see it’s prey standing before a mountain with his arms crossed. “I’ll teach you this!” The monster breathed it’s black fire at the male who did not move an inch as the fire engulfed him to the point where not even his body could be outlined. The fire continued to flow out for a few more seconds before the creature ran out of fuel and ceased it’s fire breathing and watched as smoke covered the mountain. “I hope you have learnt well!” Laughed the creature but it’s laughter was ceased when it saw the male step out of the smoke with white, feathery wings having sprouted from his back and were folded over his front like a large shield. “Yeah. I have learnt that you are more brawn than brains.” He smirked as he unfurled his wings, and with a mighty beat, shot forward with great speed and delivered a magically charged punch to the monster’s gut. The creature staggered back and before it could retaliate, the winged male drew the small spell rifle and pointed it at the injured dragon. He widened his stance a bit as the weapon began to glow a bright rainbow color. “All those who seek to bring harm to the good, shall receive divine punishment by my hand!” The male yelled before he pulled the trigger and a white and gold ball of fiery energy shot out of the barrel on a direct course to the dragon. The energy ball pierced the monster who let out a scream of agony as it’s body expanded before it exploded, sending a beam of black energy into the sky and sealing the black hole which caused the sky to return to its original blue atmosphere as well as the wall of horns to disappear in smoke. The male let out a deep sigh before he heard loud cheering. He turned his head to see the town ponies had gathered next to the six girls and were cheering and clapping their hands. He walked over to them as his wings folded behind his back and his weapon was put in it’s holster. When he reached the residents, they quickly surrounded him, spouting cheers and thanks to their hero. “That. Was. AWESOME!” He heard the rainbow maned pegasus yell as she flew to him along with the other five girls that followed her. The male only smiled in response before he saw the librarian approach him. “I’m Twilight Sparkle. And I wish to thank you so much for saving our town, Mr…” “Yorkland. Connor Yorkland.” The male replied before he noticed the destruction that was caused. “Although I should probably fix this mess before anything else can be done.” He replied as he walked to the row of destroyed properties. He stood before the destroyed properties and took a deep breath before he extended his hands to the houses. He seemed to be mumbling something which caused his hands, the destroyed houses, and the rubble to glow a light green color. The surrounding rubble seemed to shake a bit before they retreated to their original places as slowly, the row of buildings were being rebuilt till they looked like nothing had ever happened to them. This made the ponies cheer more to see their properties were rebuilt. Connor turned to the crowd and saw a brown mare with a grey mane and tail approached him. “I’m Mayor Mare. Thank you so much for not only saving our town, but helping to rebuild it as well. Is there anything at all that we can do to repay you?” Connor opened his mouth but the rumbling sound that came from his stomach spoke for him. “Sorry about that. Using magic often makes me a bit peckish.” He said with a sheepish smile. “Completely understandable, dearie.” Said a slightly chubby mare with an icing-pink mane and tail as she approached him. “Why don’t you come over to Sugarcube Corner for something to eat on the house.” With another rumble from his stomach, Connor couldn’t help but agree to the offer. Before they could move from the area, four chain-like tethers suddenly wrapped around Connor followed by a blast of magic that knocked him onto his front. The ponies looked behind them to see Princess Celestia standing there with four mage guards that were using their magic to keep the chains around Connor. “Princess!” Twilight yelled as she ran to her mentor. “Twilight. It’s so good to see that you’re alright. Something was preventing me from teleporting to this area. So I had to use the carriage to get here.” The Sun Princess smiled as she embraced the shorter mare. “We’re safe. Thanks to Connor.” Celestia’s ears suddenly perked up at the mention of the name. “Connor?” Twilight pointed to the male as he slowly got to his feet and turned around. When Celestia saw his face, she let out a sharp gasp as tears began to flow from her eyes. Connor was shaking his head to try and get the dirt out of his left eye before he felt something impact and wrap around his frame as he was knocked on his back. “CONNOR!” He heard the object yell. He opened his right eye and saw a familiar mare laying on his body as well as familiar multicoloured mane flowing in an invisible breeze. “Tia?” Celestia hugged him tight for a few more seconds before she looked at his face and smiled. “I never thought that I would see you again!” She cried. “Its good to see you again too. Although it would be better if I could see you with both eyes.” Celestia giggled a bit before she gently rubbed the dirt from his eye, allowing him to open it and see her clearer. He then felt the chains around his body removed, allowing him to sit up. “I’ve missed you so much.” She said with a sniffle. Connor gently rubbed her head before he wiped a tear from her eye. “Likewise, Tia. How about we get off the ground, though. You’re gonna ruin your dress.” He said as he got to his feet before pulling the Princess up. When she was back on her feet, Connor was pulled into another tight hug as Celestia buried her face into his shoulder. He chuckled as he wrapped his arms around her and kept her close for a few moments before his stomach gave a loud rumble. “Think we could continue this over some food?” Celestia let out another giggle. “Of course.” The two of them looked at the ponies around them. Some had confused and questioning looks on their faces from seeing one of the rulers of Equestria act in such a manner while others had tears in their eyes from the touching moment. “Maybe we could have some tea at the castle in Canterlot.” “You mean, you moved the castle?” “We had a new castle built.” Celestia replied before turning her attention to Twilight. “Twilight, I’d like you and the rest of the elements to come with us to the castle.” The girls looked at each other before they nodded their heads and walked to the Princess. Connor looked at the rest of the town dwellers and gave them a warm smile. “Maybe I’ll have that meal another time.” He said as Celestia’s hands glowed and he vanished along with her and the six mares in a flash of light. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Connor rubbed his eyes from the blinding light before he looked around to see what looked like a throne room with a long red carpet going from the large doors to the gold and midnight blue thrones set up on a platform with tiny waterfalls cascading on both sides. He let out a low whistle as he saw the windows with the coloured glass paintings. “Very extravagant.” “Glad you like it. Now, why don’t you go wash up and I’ll have my chef whip up something. You can use my bath.” Celestia said which Connor replied with a nod. “Think you can find your way around?” “I can with a bit of help.” Celestia smiled and gave a nod before Connor walked up to her. He placed a hand on her shoulder and gently pressed his forehead against hers causing a light blush to appear on the Princess’ cheeks. Twilight and the others let out a gasp at what the stranger was doing to their Princess before they looked up to see a thick, black line floating in between their heads. The line remained black until it began to fill up with a white color going from right to left till the whole line was full. Connor removed his forehead from Celestia’s and smiled at the other ponies in the room. “I’ll see you all in the dining hall.” He said before he walked out of the throne room. The mares watched the entrance for a few more seconds before they turned their heads to the Sun Princess. “Okay. What in the hay did he just do?!” Rainbow Dash yelled as Celestia shook off her blush. “That is one of his spells. Recall.” Celestia replied. “If the other party is willing, he can copy information into his head by skin contact. Although it works best if he does it the way you all saw him do it.” “So he has wings AND uses magic? THAT'S SO COOL!!” Pinkie exclaimed as she bounced around with excitement. “I could explain more, but why don’t we continue this over some tea?” The mares nodded before they followed Celestia out to the dining hall. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Connor stretched his arms up and let out a sigh as he walked through the hallway of the castle. ‘I wonder why Celestia asked me to use her bath when she knows I have a self cleaning spell?’ He was pulled from his thoughts when two spears were pointed at him. The wielders of said spears were two female guards. One of them had white fur and wings coming from her back and white pony ears on her head while the other had golden yellow fur and pony ears as well as a horn. Both of them were dressed in gold armor with a sword on their belts and a spell rifle on their backs. “Halt, creature!” The first guard yelled. “You are entering a zone of the castle which is restricted to visitors. Especially strangers like yourself.” The flier roughly spoke. Connor quickly held his hands up in defence. “Hey, hey, hey. Easy there. Celestia said that I could come here and use her bath.”   “You dare lie to us and use our Princess’ name in such a light manner?! This is why we can never trust males!” The first one thrusted her spear which made Connor hop back. The flier flew at him from the left and thrusted her spear at his side but missed due to Connor spinning on his heel. The winged mare turned to face Connor but did not notice that the back end of her spear had knocked a flower pot off it’s stand. Connor quickly dived to the floor and caught the pot before it could impact the floor and break. “Careful where you swing those things, will ya?” He hopped onto his hands and knees as the other guard attempted to impale him by throwing her spear but missed as the spear went underneath him. He quickly got up and placed the flower pot back on it’s stand. The unicorn groaned in frustration for not being to land a hit on her target before she retrieved her spear with her magic. She, along with the flier, threw their spears at Connor who extended his palms. The moment the tips of the spears touched his hands, they suddenly stopped before turning to dust and fell on the floor. “Sorry about that. I felt that I should do something about your spears before you accidentally destroy something with them.” Connor did a bow to them. “ENOUGH!” A loud voice bellowed through the hall. All three of them looked to see an annoyed Princess Luna standing before them in in a bathrobe with the sash loosely tied around her waist. “What, in the name of the moon, is with all the racket?” The Princess of the night demanded as she glared at the three of them. “Our sincerest apologies, your majesty. We were trying to get rid of this imbecile who lied to us, saying that Princess Celestia allowed him to come here.” The flier pointed to Connor in an accusing manner. “And what dost thou say-” Princess Luna stopped her sentence when she saw Connor’s face. The male smiled sheepishly and gave a small wave. “Hey Lulu.” The blue winged Princess let out a loud scream before she flared her wings and sped towards Connor, tackling him into the wall in a tight hug. Connor wheezed a bit as Luna buried her head into his chest.  “Connor!” She cried while the guards were very confused by the scene before them. “My goodness, you’ve gotten bigger since I last saw you.” Connor chuckled as he gently stroked her mane. Luna eased her hug a bit and smiled up at him. Connor smiled back before he suddenly averted his eyes from her. “Uh, Luna. You may wanna fix your robe.” Luna gave him a questioning look before looking down to see the sash on her robe came loose from the flight, allowing her light blue undergarments to show. A small “eep” came from the Princess as she quickly redid her sash. Connor gently pushed her away with a smile. “How about you go, get dressed, and head to the dining hall. Celestia is over there and I’ll be over once I’ve cleaned up.” Luna smiled and nodded before she went back to her room. Connor watched Luna walk off before turning to see the guards staring at him in surprise. “Wh-who are you?” The magic user asked. “Yorkland. Connor Yorkland.” He replied before going into Celestia’s bed chambers. Inside, he saw that the room was the size of a large classroom with a large bed to his right covered by golden, silk sheets and a white pillow at the headrest. To his left was a fairly spacious oak desk with an inkwell and two quills. A large closet was on the far end of the room in between two doors. The door on the right was made of glass and lead to the balcony while the door on the left lead to what he assumed was the bathroom. Connor continued to speculate the room for a bit before he headed for the bathroom while unzipping his jacket. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Celestia and the six mares were in the dining hall, chatting about small events over some tea and cookies. “Ugh. What is taking Connor so long?” Rainbow groaned in frustration. Before Celestia could answer, the doors opened and Luna walked in, joining the other ponies at the table. “Good morning, sister. I thought you would be sleeping.” “Connor said that he wouldst be hither after he bathed.” The blue alicorn replied as a maid brought a cup of tea to her. “Unfortunately there was a bit of a commotion between him and the guards outside thy chambers” “Oh no! I forgot to inform them about him.” Celestia gasped. “It's fine, sister. We managed to stop their fight before it couldst escalate. I’d imagine that he’s at least halfway through cleaning himself.” The group turned to see the doors begin to open. “Or he is already done.” When Connor entered the room, they saw that his jacket was unzipped and showed his black and white undershirt that seemed to be made of a stretchy material that clung to him, displaying his well kept body. This caused the girls to blush a bit before they shook it off as he removed his jacket and hung it on a chair between Luna and Rarity before sitting down. “Sorry you all had to wait so long. I was caught in a bit of a scuffle with some guards and Celestia’s soap was a bit too… feminine.” The doors to the kitchen opened and a chef walked in and set down a stack of waffles covered in syrup. Connor cut a piece and ate it. Letting out a hum of satisfaction before he continued eating. “Glad you are enjoying yourself. But can we talk?” Connor nodded to Celestia as he continued eating. “So. Who are you?” Twilight asked as the other girls leaned in. “Connor is a powerful being known as a Heavenly Saint. They hold levels of magic that can far outclass even mine.” Celestia explained, causing the girls to have a shocked look on their faces. “Each Saint specialises certain element such as fire, water, lightning, and so on.” “That is so cool!” Rainbow exclaimed. “So. Would that mean that Connor specialises in magic?” Fluttershy asked in a timid tone. “Actually, I’m a master of all the elements. Including magic. So, that makes me an exception” The Saint interjected. “Many of Starswirl the Bearded’s spells were created with the help of Connor.” Luna said as Connor finished his stack and let out a satisfied sigh. “I didn't really helped much. I just…edited his spells to make sure they work.” He said with a shrug. “Wow. The being who helped perfect Starswirl’s spells is sitting right in front of me.” Twilight squealed in excitement. “He is also the creator of the Elements of Harmony.” Celestia added, causing the girls to gasp. “You’re bluffing!” Rainbow yelled. “She’s telling the truth, and I have to say that I’m impressed that my elements have been…inherited by such interesting individuals.” The Saint smiled. “That’s because we’re just that awesome.” Rainbow boasted with pride. A chuckle came from Connor. “Well. I believe that you all know who I am and a brief explanation of what I can do. Mind if I ask your names?” “I’m Twilight Sparkle.” “Rarity.” “AppleJack.” “F-Fluttershy.” “Rainbow Dash.” Suddenly, Connor saw the pink mare appear in front of him on the table. “Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie! I like to bake tasty treats and I like to throw big, big parties!” She looked at him with a wider smile. “Say. Do you like parties? Do ya?! DO YA?!” The mare was bouncing with anticipation as she waited for the Saint’s answer. “Well. I haven’t had a bad party as far as I remember. So yeah. I do like parties.” Pinkie let out an excited scream before wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling his head into her well endowed chest. “Ooooh! I need to throw you a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party and a ‘Welcome back to our universe’ party!” She squealed as she smothered Connor’s head further into her chest. The party pony was suddenly pulled off by a pair of hands. “Pinkie! Yer suffocating the poor feller!” AppleJack yelled as she pried Pinkie away, leaving Connor to suck up the air that he was deprived of. ‘She smells like cotton candy.’ He thought. When he calmed down, he noticed that Rarity was staring at him. “What’s wrong? Is there something on me?” “Not at all. I was just curious as to what material your t-shirt is made out of. I’ve never seen anything like it.” “The shirt is made of polyester. It makes it light, breathable and very easy to move around in.” Connor explained as he rolled his right shoulder. “Plus it dries quickly if it ever gets wet.” “I must say. It looks very good on you.” “Thank you.” “Yeah. Enough with the boring stuff. I wanna hear about your awesome wings!” The cyan flier flew up to him. “Where are your wings?” Suddenly, the white, feathery wings they had seen earlier sprouted from his back. They were wide and seemed to shine in the light of the room. “So. How were you able to block off that monster’s fire with your wings.” Twilight inquired. “Fortification magic. I can enchant my wings to act as a shield.” Connor explained as he gave his wings a small flap. “Wow. We should have a race one day. See who has more speed.” Rainbow smirked. “Maybe, Rainbow. But not today. Coming through that rift and fighting that beast all in one day has taken a bit out of me.” Connor replied with a yawn. “Oh dear. I hope you didn’t use too much magic with that final spell.” Fluttershy spoke in worry. “It’s not like that, Fluttershy. Traveling in between dimensions is a lot like traveling through different time zones except it's a matter of days instead of hours. I just need to rest a bit so that my body can adjust to this dimension’s time.” Connor explained. “A thought just occurred to me. What was that monster that attacked Ponyville?” Twilight asked. “That was a Xerfit. To sum it up, a resurrected being whose soul is permanently corrupted to the point the individual cannot even remember who they were.” Connor explained. “They aimed to make this dimension a sort of power house because of the infinite amount of magic that is present here. Same with any other dimension that has magic. That's why Heavenly Saints are assigned to the different dimensions. To combat the Xerfits. I was assigned to this dimension a few millennia ago. Back when Celestia and Luna were just…fillies.” Twilight and the others slowly nodded before the Sun Princess cleared her throat. “I think it would be best that you all head back to Ponyville to help make sure that everything is alright.” Celestia suggested. “I’ll help send them back.” Connor spoke as he got to his feet. “You don’t need to do that. We can take the train if we make it in time.” Twilight answered as the others got up from the table. “It’s alright. Besides, I’ll need to look at a location for when I go over to Ponyville tomorrow.” Twilight looked at her friends before looking back at the Saint. “Well. If it won’t be too much trouble, then we will accept your offer.” Connor nodded before he walked over to the lavender eared mage and bent down in front of her till he was face level with her. “May I?” The mare gave a slight nod and closed her eyes. Connor gently pressed his forehead against hers, causing a small blush to appear on her cheeks, and closed his eyes as a light between their forehead glowed softly for a few seconds before dying off. The Saint removed his forehead from the librarian before extending his left hand to the side. His hand glowed a white color and a white circle appeared before the ponies, displaying the inside of Twilight’s library. “Woah. Its a portal!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she stuck her head through the circle. “And it goes straight to the library!” “That's new.” Celestia commented. “Yeah. I created this so that I don’t have to keep carrying traveling runes with me all the time.” Connor crossed his arms. “That’s incredible.” Twilight gasped as she and the other young ponies stepped through the portal and into the Ponyville Library. “I’ll come around lunch time tomorrow.” Connor said and Twilight nodded before the portal closed. Connor let out another yawn before he shifted his attention to the two Princesses that had smiles on their lips. Connor raised an eyebrow as he noticed they seem to be holding in their excitement before he let out a chuckle and spread his arms out. “Alright. C’mere you two.” The two alicorns let out a squeal and Connor suddenly found himself knocked to the floor with the two of them hugging him and nuzzling his chest. “We’ve missed you so much.” Celestia cried with Luna in a similar state. “I’ve missed you two as well.” Connor said as he gently scratched behind Luna’s ear while scratching Celestia’s chin, earning a small purring  sound from the two of them with their tails swishing happily. The three of them stayed on the floor of the dining hall in deep embrace before Connor looked up to see the chef giving them a weird look and a few maids looking at them as if they were holding a squeal. “Uh. Tia. Lulu. We should probably let the staff clear up the place.” Connor gently rubbed their heads. The two princesses also looked at their staff before they quickly got off the floor and brushed their dresses of any dirt. Connor also got to his feet and stretched his arms up before he grabbed his jacket from the chair he was sitting on. Soon, the three of them had left the dining hall and were heading for the castle garden. Connor looked around as he committed the route to memory. As they walked, Connor looked up in the sky and saw a few fliers in blue suits flying around and doing a few stunts. “Who are they?” He asked. “Those are the Wonderbolts. A special branch in the Equestrian military that specialise in stunt coordination.” Celestia explained. “Ah. So they put on shows across the country.” “Indeed. In fact, they are currently practicing for the upcoming Grand Galloping Gala.” Connor nodded before they continued walking. When they reached the garden, Connor gawked a bit at the beauty of the garden as birds and butterflies flew around and small critters scurried about the ground and in the trees. “It’s beautiful.” He gasped. The trio found a small hill and sat down with Connor laying in the middle with his arms behind his head. “It’s very peaceful. Although I have to ask. Why did you build a new castle here? What happened to the old castle? Did Tia see another spider?” When he didn’t hear any response, Connor sat up to look them, only to see looks of shame, guilt, and regret on their faces. “Girls?” “Th-the old castle got destroyed a thousand years ago.” Celestia explained in a somber tone. “What?” “A hundred years after thou hath left, celestia and i hadst taken up our duties as princesses.  Raising the sun, base'ring the moon and so on” Luna spoke. “But over time, we became jealous of how the people danced and played in Celestia’s day while they slept in our night. We hath grown jealous of how our sister hath seemed to gain more attention than i. And in time, jealousy consumed me and turned me into a horrible creature of darkness hath called Nightmare moon who hath tried to cover the land in eternal darkness” “When she turned into the dark monster, I tried to reason with it to release Luna. But when that failed, I was forced to fight her. Our battle had destroyed half of the old castle. I could never bring myself to destroy my sister. So I used the Elements of Harmony and banished her to the moon for a thousand years.” Celestia finished. Connor slowly nodded as he listened to them. He could see tears welling up in their eyes as they told him of the events. He extended his hands and gently rubbed their heads, but neither of them met his gaze. “I feel like there is more to this than you two are telling me.” He spoke. “W-when thou asked us about the old castle, it made us realise that we had broken our promise to thou and forgotten thy teachings.” Luna sniffled. “You had taught us to always look out for each other. And the day that you left us, we made a promise that we would take care of each other just as you had taught us.” The sun princess shifted uncomfortably. The two of them then quickly got to their knees with their heads hanging low. “You have every right to be upset with us for what has happened.” Connor looked at them before extending his arms and wrapped them around their waists, pulling them into a tight embrace. “If you two are so upset with breaking your promise and forgetting my teachings, then work hard to uphold them from now on. Okay?” Celestia and Luna nodded and returned his embrace. They stayed in each other’s embrace for a few seconds before they let go of each other and the two Princesses wiped their tears from their eyes. Connor then looked up to see the sun had finished it’s path across the sky. “I think it is just about dinner time.” Connor spoke. The mares giggled before Celestia lowered the sun and Luna raised the moon. Afterwards, the three of them journeyed back to the dining hall. As they walked, they passed by many castle guards and maids who looked at them as they walked by. They mainly looked at Connor. He noticed that some of the guards tightened their grip on their spears while the others just looked at him with curiosity before continuing their duties of the castle. They soon reached the dining hall and sat down at the table. The two princesses removed their royal regalia and placed it on the table. Then three maids came out of the kitchen and gave each of them a menu. Connor opened the menu and read what the kitchen would be able to offer. He read mainly vegetarian dishes with a few meat dishes. He heard Celestia and Luna order a salad dish each. After looking at the menu, he looked to his left to see the maid that handed him the menu waiting with a notepad and quill. “I’ll take the caesar salad with extra croutons and cheese.” The maid nodded and wrote down his order before taking the menu and retreating to the kitchen with the other two maids. “So. What has been happening since I’ve been gone?” Connor asked. “We’ve been able to improve our technological department.” Celestia answered as she held up a rectangular object with a navy blue cover decorated with stars. Connor levitated the object over to him and inspected it. “Ah. So you’ve been able to invent the smartphone in this dimension.” Celestia nodded. “Yes. Although the young ponies are calling them P-phones and P-pods.” Connor chuckled at the names as he took a sip of his glass of water. “The fact that you are calling them young ponies makes me realise how old the three of us are.” He said as he levitated the phone back to Celestia. “At least we are not as old as the two of you.” Luna chided, making the older alicorn and the Saint glare at her for a few seconds before they burst out laughing. Their laughter ceased as the maids came back out, carrying their orders on silver trays. They set the plates on the table before standing off to the side of the room. Connor took up his fork and knife and pricked a slice of tomato and ate it. He smiled as he ate the salad. “Oh, how I’ve missed the freshness of this dimension’s vegetables.” He said as he continued to eat. Celestia and Luna smiled before they too picked up their cutleries and dug in to their meal. As the three ate, the princesses informed the Saint of other recent events while he told them of his adventures throughout the other dimensions before they switched to memories of when the princesses were younger. “Remember the time when Luna tried to steal Celestia’s cake?” Connor asked. “I was merely trying to make sure my dear sister didn’t put on weight after she had that bowl of cookies not thirty minutes before.” Luna stuck her nose in the air before directing a smirk at Celestia. “Excuse me. But I am well able to control myself when it comes to my diet thank you very much.” Celestia retorted as she pointed her fork at Luna. “I don’t know. We remember seeing thee walking to thy chambers with half a chocolate cake the other night.” Luna’s smirk widened at Celestia. Celestia let out a huff before she ate the last cherry tomato in her plate. The three maids then came forward and took the plates to the kitchen. Connor stretched his arms out and took a deep breath before letting out a sigh of satisfaction. “Well. I would suggest a bath before bed, but I don’t really have any soap on me.” Connor said as he leaned back in his chair. “There are some shops that should still be open right now that sell bars of soap.” Celestia said. “I could get some of my guards to guide you to one of them.” Connor thought about it for a moment before he nodded. “I’ll just need one guard, though.” Celestia nodded and a small flash came from her horn. A few minutes later, a winged female guard with white fur and a gold mane and tail came in. “Captain Light Star at your service, your majesty.” She said with a bow. “Star, I’d like you to take Connor with you to Squeaky’s shop.” Celestia said. The guard then looked at Connor and her eyes went wide. “Oh. Hey. You’re the flier that was outside Celestia’s room.” Connor smiled and wave. The mare’s look of surprise then shifted to a small glare which Connor decided to not pay attention to. Celestia noticed the glare her guard gave the Saint. “Maybe I should get someone else to guide you.” “Its alright, Tia. As long as she will show me the way, I won’t mind.” Connor said with a smile before he went out of the dining hall. A few minutes later, the guard walked out of the room and looked at Connor. “I’ll need to go get changed before we head out.” She said before she took off with Connor following her. As they walked, Connor noticed that the mare’s wings were twitching. “You know. If you want to fly, you can. I can keep up.” The guard suddenly stopped and glared at him. “Listen, I don’t know how, but just because you became friends with the Princesses in one day it doesn’t mean that you’re just gonna gain my admiration just like that.” The mare replied in a rough tone. “And I don’t want you to go back to them sweating like crazy because you had to run after me while I flew.” “Listen, Light Star was it? First of all, I knew those two since they were fillies. Secondly, when did I say that I would be running?” Connor hopped onto the ledge of an open window before he hopped outside and sprouted his wings, keeping himself hovering in the air. Light Star let out a huff before she spread her wings and flew out towards the barracks with Connor following her. They soon reached the barracks but before they touched down, the mare gave Connor a large, shield badge coloured gold with the sun and Celestia’s crown engraved on it. “This will notify the guards not to attack you at all times and will grant you all access to the castle.” Connor nodded as he hooked the badge to his belt before the two of them descended into the courtyard of the barracks. True to her word, none of the guards pointed their weapons at Connor but they all kept their eye on him. “Stay out here and don’t do anything stupid.” Light Star said before she went into the female living quarters, leaving Connor standing in the middle of the courtyard. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Sergeant came out a few minutes later dressed in a grey shirt and blue jeans with her hair tied in a knot. She heard laughing in the courtyard and looked to see Connor and a few of the other guards standing around a table with fifteen concrete bricks stacked tightly together in three columns with Connor standing before the table. The mare quickly pushed her way through the crowd over to the Saint. “What in the hoof are you all doing?” “Ah. Sergeant. You’re just in time for a small demonstration.” Connor smiled at her before pointing to the bricks. “Pick a brick, any brick, and I will break it without breaking any of the others.” The mare huffed before she placed her hand on the top brick of the middle column. “I pick this one.” “She picks the top brick of the second column.” Connor called out and the other guards cheered, drawing the attention of the other guards and a few maids. “Not good enough!” All of them let out a gasp as Light Star glared at him. “Let's make this a little bit more challenging. I shall break this brick and the one at the bottom.” The crowd gasped while Light Star scoffed at his claim. The Saint got the crowd to quiet down before he widened his stance and took in a deep breath while raising his right hand in the air. The crowd was silent as they waited in anticipation. He suddenly slammed his palm down on the top brick and the crowd saw a crack run along the middle. Connor picked up the top brick of the middle column and showed the crowd it was broken, resulting in a small applause from the crowd before he motioned for them to be quiet. He picked the other three bricks from the column one at a time and showed that they weren’t broken before he picked up the bottom brick, held it up, and then pulled it apart along the cracked line. This made the crowd cheer loudly while Light Star looked at him in shock. The guards and the maids crowded around the Saint, still cheering before he saw his guide approach him. “Well. If you are done performing your circus theatrics, we must get going.” Connor nodded before the two spread their wings and flew off towards the shops of Canterlot. They soon touched down outside a shop with a sign that read “Squeaky’s soap shop”. The two went inside where a white stallion with a grey, neatly combed mane sat behind the counter and smiled at them. “Welcome to ‘Squeaky’s soap shop.’ My name is Squeaky Clean. How may I help the two of you?” He welcomed them in. Connor stepped forward with a smile. “Hi. I heard that you are one of the few shops in Canterlot that sold body wash products to furless creatures this late.” “Ah. Yes. I do have a few soap bars towards the back of the shop that will suit your need. Whatever you are.” Connor smiled before he headed to the back while Light waited at the counter. A few seconds later, he returned and placed a white bar of soap on the counter. “That would normally be fifty bits, but you seem like a new species here. So I’ll give you this one on the house.” The stallion smiled as he placed the soap in a bag and handed it to Connor. Light Star and Connor stepped out of the shop before they spread their wings and took off towards the castle. “Thanks for showing me where the shop is.” Connor spoke to Light, receiving a grunt from her. “Lets just quickly get back before Celestia gets upset.” “You can just head back to the barracks if you want. I can find my way back to Celestia’s room.” Connor spoke. The mare said nothing but shifted her wings and flew back to the barracks. Connor let out a sigh before he leaned towards Celestia’s room. As he was gliding down towards the bedroom balcony, he folded his wings in and landed quietly in front of the door. He opened it to see Celestia sitting at her desk, reading a letter from Twilight about the status of Ponyville and Luna sitting on the bed reading a book. The Moon Princess looked up from her book and smiled at the Heavenly Saint. “Thou took thy time.” Celestia’s ears perked up before she set the parchment down and turned to look at him. “Were you able to get anything?” Connor smiled and held up the bag of soap. “I made a few friends with the guards and got a free bar of soap. Can’t really complain about anything.” “Even Light Star?” Connor summoned a chair with his magic and sat down with a sigh. “I get a feeling that she has not had a pleasant experience with males in her past. Although I doubt that it is your place to tell. Is it, Tia?” The Sun Princess nodded in response. “Why don’t you go and take a shower first. I can imagine that it has been a long day for you.” She offered. Connor nodded as he got to his feet and made the chair he was sitting on vanish. He removed his boots and set them to the side before he removed his jacket and t-shirt. The mares blushed as they saw his toned body before they both looked away. Connor then removed his belt along with his weapon and badge and set them to the side before he took his bag of soap and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. The bathroom was a bit smaller than Celestia’s room with marble flooring and the large bath tub on the right side taking a majority of the space. There was a dark blue door on the far end of the room which he guessed lead to Luna’s room. Connor removed the rest of his clothing and stepped into the tub and stood in the middle. He snapped his fingers and a light blue magic circle appeared above his head and showered cold water on him before it turned a light orange, making the cascading water warm. He took the soap bar out of the bag and lathered it up before he picked up a shower scrub and began cleaning his body. After he finished washing the suds off himself, he made the spell circle vanish and stepped out of the tub. With a snap of his fingers, his body was dry and a pair of black sleeping shorts appeared on him. With a satisfied sigh, he exited the bathroom to see Celestia and Luna had gone back to reading their respective materials. They both looked up at him and smiled as he smiled back at them. The two alicorns then got to their feet and made their way to the bathroom as Connor stepped out of the way for them. When the bathroom door closed, the Saint walked out to the balcony and looked out towards the city and beyond. His eyes glowed a dark green hue and a soft breeze began to blow. He enjoyed the breeze for a few more minutes before he felt a hand gently run it’s fingers across his lower back. “Had a nice bath, Luna?” “We did.” “That's good.” He said as Luna hugged him from behind. “Tis a beautiful night.” “Yeah. I've really missed the nights that you paint.” “Really?” “Of course. In the other dimensions that I’ve traveled through, none of the nights are as beautiful than this.” Luna smiled and gently hugged him from behind, nuzzling into his back. “Lulu. Connor.” Celestia called. The two of them went into the room and Connor saw Celestia in a white, semi see through nightgown that outlined her figure. Luna’s choice of sleepwear was a pair of dark blue, silk short shorts and a black, silk tank top. “I say it again. You two have really grown really beautiful.” Connor said with a chuckle. “Thank you Connor. Although we still think Tia needs to cut back on the cake and ice-cream.” Luna said as she poked Celestia’s belly. “Oh really Luna? Then how about you cut back on the cookies you eat before bed?” Her sister retorted. “I’ve seen you constantly carry a full jar of cookies to your room and then the next day you come back with the jar completely empty.” Connor chuckled at their bickering as he sat down on the bed. He then let out a high pitched whistle and the sisters immediately cocked their heads in his direction. “I’d suggest that we at least lay down before this escalates any further.” The two princesses smiled before all three of them lied down on the soft, large bed with Connor in the middle and the princesses snuggling up to him. Connor gently stroked their hair. “So. Are you going to stay this time?” Celestia asked. “If you two are willing to put up with me.” Connor playfully tapped her nose. “You know very well that you are more than welcome to stay.” Luna gently nuzzled his cheek along with Celestia. Connor smiled and gave both of them a squeeze. “ Lets go to sleep. Alright, you two?” The alicorns nodded as they all got comfortable before they closed their eyes and drifted off to sleep.