After an hour of driving (and a very entertaining hour at that; the merchant was nice enough to pack the Delta with all my favorite songs and bands. He was still a Asshat though), we arrived at the edge of Canterlot.
Inching closer to the city, I soon had to stop completely. The ponies evidently rarely used chariots in their own city, and thus, the streets were packed with ponies. And they didn’t make it any easier when they stopped and stared at us. I blared the horn, trying to get them to move, but that only caused half of them to keel over like scared goats.
“Goddamn…” I rolled down the window. “Move your asses!” I boomed at the possum-playing-ponies.
But not only did they somehow freeze up even more, a few decided to take action. Glancing up, I saw several guards running at the Delta with swords raised.
“Oh, Hell no!” I growled, bursting out of the car. They skidded to a stop when I leveled my boomstick at them. “HELL THE FUCK NO! You leave a single scratch on this car and I will blow so many holes in you, your own parents will say ‘Wow, that is the reddest block of Swiss cheese I’ve ever seen!’” I snarled.
The guards skidded to a stop, but weren’t as easy to cower as the ponies. They glowered at me, swords still raised. It wasn’t until Shining Armor popped out that they dared to show even surprise.
“Stand down, soldiers,” Shining Armor declared. “This… ‘gentleman’… is under my protection.”
“But Captain!?” one of the guards argued.
“I said stand down!’ he said sternly.
The guards glared at me, but reluctantly sheathed their swords. Shining turned to me with a grin.
"I think it's best we walk the rest of the way,” he suggested.
“Fuck. That,” I stated, still aiming at the guards. “I don’t trust these pricks with my car. What if they take it… or scratch it?” I shuddered, patting the immaculate paint of coat.
“Is it… really that important?” Twilight asked. “I mean…”
“Sparkle,” I warned. “You and Armor are easily the only two people I like in this world. Don’t you dare ruin that by saying it’s ‘just a car.’ This!” I pointed at the Delta. “This is my Dream Car. This is a car that I have wanted since I was old enough to know what a car is!”
Twilight rubbed her chin, glancing between me and the car. She nodded.
“Well, then…” she declared, turning to her brother. “Shiny… we’ll meet you at the castle."
"Twily?" Shining asked.
"Sorry," she said with a shrug. "But I think I've only got enough strength for myself and one other with this thing.”
Before either of us could ask what that meant, her horn shrouded in light. With a pop and a flash like a camera, I found ourselves right outside the castle.
I laughed. “Nice one.”
Twilight shrugged with a grin. “I am the Princess of Friendship,” she said. “I’d rather not ruin one of my friendships with someone else. Especially if that someone else doesn’t have that many friends here to begin with.”
I nodded. “Well, in that case… stay in the car real quick. There’s something I need to do.”
She blinked, but I walked around the car and grabbed my chainsaw from the back.
“Oh… kay?” she asked.
Thankfully, she didn’t move, and just watched as I walked up to the entrance. The unicorn and pegasus guards stationed their readied their spears, but I could see the tremble in their legs, and hear the stammer in their voices.
“H-Halt s-sir!” one of them stammered.
“How about, instead of pissing yourselves,” I replied. “One of you go get Celestia.” I jabbed a thumb at the Delta. “Tell her I got Twilight.”
The purple alicorn waved from her seat. The two guards glanced at each other, but just as the pegasus flared her wings… the unicorn was gone with a flash of light.
“Curse you, Private Quick Shot,” the pegasus cursed, before turning to me with fear. “Um…”
I just smirked at her, crossing my arms and waiting. For about two minutes, we stood there; the pegasus guard trembling before me, while I waited for Celestia. Shining appeared with a flash of light, leaning next to the Delta and engaging in some sort of conversation with Twilight. Before I could try to eavesdrop, a flash of golden light appeared before the pegasus, and the Royal Sun Butt herself appeared, complete with a regal golden dress.
“Well?” she started to say. “Where is…?”
She paused, probably taking in the fact that my slave collar was gone. But in the time it took her to process that, I had already walked up to her. And before she could speak, my fist was planting itself into her cheekbone and sending her to the ground.
“Ash, Celestia’s sake!” Twilight screamed.
Before I could turn around, there was a flash of purple light, and Twilight appeared, tending to her beloved mentor.
“Why would you do that?!” she demanded. “Didn’t she set you free?”
“Actually,” Shining said, stepping in. “I set him free.” He tossed the unclasped collar at his sister’s feet.
I blinked. I didn’t even think of what had happened to the collar afterward.
Bad move on my part, as Twilight picked it up with all the air of someone finding their parent’s secret porn stash.
"This is one of Sombra's enslavement collars," Twilight whispered, looking up at us. “These…”
“Well, Celestia?” I asked the ruler. “Care to tell her where it came from?”
Twilight turned to Celestia with horror in her eyes. But Celestia pulled herself up, rubbing her cheek and glaring at me defiantly.
“I put the spell on that demon,” Celestia replied. Twilight dropped the collar and backed away from her in horror, bringing a look of worry to Celestia’s face. “Twilight, it was so he wouldn’t kill another innocent pony.”
“Well that spell almost stopped us from saving Twilight,” Shining Armor growled, standing by my side.
“Celestia…” Twilight whispered. Celestia tried to reach out to her student, but the purple alicorn covered her face, running into the castle.
“Twilight?” Celestia stammered. Her arm slowly lowered. I smirked and walked past her, nudging her out of the way with my leg.
“You brought this on yourself,” I noted.
This time, I thought I was ready for her. As I heard the charge of magic, I whirled around. Yet even then, I was too late to keep Celestia from shooting another magic blast at me. Luckily, the ring Shining gave me was no fake.
With a flash of gold light, the golden spell bounced against my chest, and fizzled away into nothing. Celestia’s jaw hit the ground.
"Nice try," I said, flipping her the bird with the ring. “But not this time.”
With that, I set off to find Twilight.
Now, from my limited time with Twilight, I could assume she wasn’t like most women from my world. Most women would just go to their rooms and cry. But I figured Twilight would be somewhere a bit more comforting to her. And if I remembered her character from the show well enough, I’d make a safe bet that a library would be of far more comfort to her.
It took a bit of a search, but I eventually managed to locate the Royal Library. And inside, I could hear the faint sound of crying. Moving through the various bookshelves stacked with tome upon tome of endless information, I eventually found Twilight leaning against a bookshelf.
“Hey, Sweetheart,” I greeted. My voice was soft, and yet she still flinched as if I had shouted.
"Ash,” she said, looking to me with tear stricken eyes. “Why didn't you tell me…?”
“Because I have a policy,” I replied, sitting down next to her. “If it’s my problem, I fix it. You weren’t part of that problem, so you didn’t need to know.”
"But I am part of the problem,” Twilight insisted. “I summoned those demons. I caused all these problems.” Her voice cracked, and she buried her head in her hands.
"Ah,” I noted. “So, you think this is your fault?”
“What are you talking about?” she lamented. “Of course, it’s my fault! You warned me. So many times, you tried to warn me, and yet I still read from it.” She ran her hands through her mane. “Now Equestria is suffering for it.”
“That isn’t your fault,” I insisted.
“How do you know?” she demanded, her bloodshot eyes turning to me in anger.
"Because there’s a difference between Earth Sumerian and Equestrian Sumerian," I replied with a smile. A smile that got wider when Twilight’s tears stopped.
"What?"
I indicated the books. “I think you actually did have the right passage to send me home. But there’s a difference between our versions of Sumerian. A small difference, but enough to make your translation wrong.” I made her look me in the eyes. “So, no; no matter what anyone else says, none of this is your fault… Princess.”
Wipping her eyes Twilight started to smile
"Thank you," Twilight whispered.
She began to stand, but I put a hand on her shoulder, my frown making her ears flick in worry.
"Twilight,” I began unsteadily. “I… need to apologize.” I lowered my head. “I wasn't able to get there in time."
"What do you mean?"
"The demons started a ritual,” I explained. “Carved up a couple ponies and drained their blood.” I winced at the look of horror developing on her face. "But..."
"There's a but?" She almost shrieked.
"The worst of it happened to you." A shadow casted over my eyes as I lifted up her right sleeve.
She stared, uncomprehendingly, at the Sumerian text scrawled over her body. "W-What is...?" she began.
"The demons are planning to turn you into the next Necronomicon,” I explained. “Like it or not, you’re gonna need to be guarded twenty four seven.”
“I…” Twilight stammered, still staring at the text on her body.
“No ‘I’s,” I insisted. “If the demons get a hold of you, they will kill you, and use your flesh and blood to create the book. And if another book’s created…”
I stopped. She was growing more and more pale. She started to look more like her friend Rarity; if Rarity ever looked like she was about to suffer a heart attack, or keel over from fearful worry.
“Another book…” she stammered, clutching her head. “I… this is too overwhelming… I can’t think!”
“Easy,” I said, deciding to take a gentler approach. I put my arms around her shoulders. “You’ve got nothing to fear, alright. I’ll protect you. I promise.” As she looked at me, I regained my smile. “I swear, no harm will befall you as long as I’m around.”
She covered her mouth. For a moment, I feared she was sobbing. But then I realized she was laughing.
"You sound like a knight,” she pointed out. “You know that, right?"
“Can’t help it,” I admitted, chuckling myself. “Just don’t expect me to get fitted with shining armor.”
Twilight tilted her head, though her grin didn’t fade. “You’re going to get fitted with my brother?” she asked.
We both burst into laughter at that lovely image; a laughter that seemed to lift the despair, however briefly, from both of us. Leaning my arm against my knee, I noted a silver chain. I remembered having that even before I was teleported to this world.
“Hey, Twilight,” I said, struggling not to sound coy. “Close your eyes.”
She tilted her head at me again, but all I needed to do was grin at her. With a small roll of her eyes, she shut them, as I pulled the chain off my wrist.
“I don’t know if this will help,” I said, putting it around her neck. “But it wouldn’t hurt to try.” Once I got it fitted, I scooted back. “Okay, open up.”
Opening her eyes, Twilight peered around in confusion, before she spotted the silver jewled cross now hanging around her neck.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered, lifting the cross.
“It’s been in my family for a couple hundred years,” I explained, as she turned the cross over, finding an inscription. “Though… it wasn’t engraved until my Great Grandad got his hands on it.”
"Habete fidem semper?” Twilight muttered, reading the inscription. Briefly, her eyes widened in panic. “Um… what does that mean?"
“Relax,” I assured her. “It’s not a demon chant. It means ‘Always have Faith.’ Y’see, in my world, that cross symbolizes faith and resolve.” I placed my hand over hers, lifting the cross up. “It also has the power to ward off the forces of Hell. Hopefully, it’ll help protect you when I can’t.”
“Oh, Ashley,” Twilight breathed, clenching the cross over her chest. “Thank you.”
I blinked. Normally, I hated being called Ashley. It was why I preferred Ash so much. But, for some reason, when Twilight called me it… I wasn’t as bothered.
Then my stomach growled. Talk about a mood killer.
"That wasn't me, I swear,” Twilight said instantly.
"Nah, it was definitely me,” I replied. “The only thing I had to eat today was a steak sub.”
“Goodness,” Twilight stammered, standing up. “That won’t do. We need to get you something.”
“Sure, just no hay,” I said, following her to the kitchen. “I’ll do vegetables and bread, but no hay.”
After a quiet dinner, Twilight headed off to bed. It took her half the journey to realize I was following her.
"Um...what are you doing?" she asked.
"Keeping an eye on you,” I said sternly. “Remember; until we send these demons back into the fires of hell, I’m going where you go.”
"But…"
"No ‘but’s,” I declared. “Sorry, but I'm your bodyguard now.”
Twilight opened her mouth to argue.
“Relax,” I insisted. “I’ll be just outside your room. All you have to do is scream, and I’ll be in there faster than a gopher on crack.” I flashed a smile.
Twilight’s ears were still flat in nervousness, but she seemed to realize arguing with me wasn’t going to work. Settling for a resigned nod, she continued to her room. Though she kept stealing glances back at me, as if having a bodyguard was odd for her.
Though the idea of not having a bodyguard was odd to me. Wasn’t she a princess? Didn’t the other princesses do this all the time? What made her different?
Eventually, we reached her room. She hesitated at the door, giving me another nervous look.
“Well… goodnight, Ash,” she said, shutting the door.
“Night, Princess,” I replied, leaning against the wall.
For the next couple of hours, I just… stood there. I tried to pass the time by checking my weapons. Interestingly, despite all the deadites I’d killed, none of their remains were left on the chain of my blade. Probably another gift from that asshat merchant.
As the time went by, I started to slump to the ground. And as the moon made its way into the sky, my eyes slowly slid shut.
“ASHLEY!”
I was back in my room. My father in front of me, his face red as a tomato. The vein on his neck bulging.
“What the hell where you thinking?!” he demanded. “For Christ’s sake, Ashley! What made you think starting a fight at Church was a good idea?!”
“But Dad…” I tried to protest.
“No buts!” he snapped. “I don’t want to hear what you have to say. You do not start a fight in the Lord’s House!”
“But…” I tried to cut in, my anger rising.
“I SAID NO BUTS!” he cut me off. “How are you so incapable of understanding? The Lord’s House is the most sacred place you could ever have the privilege to enter. Fighting; turning his house into some sort of…!”
“OH, FUCK THE LORD!” I snapped before I could stop myself.
I covered my mouth in horror. My dad blinked at me, almost like a deer in the headlights. But all too soon, his scowl returned. But his voice was no longer screaming. It was quiet. Almost tranquil. Honestly, that was even worse.
“Get out.”
“Dad…” I tried to stammer. But before I could get a word in, he seized me by the hair.
“GET OUT…” he seethed, dragging me out of my room. “OF MY…” he reached the door and hurled me out. “HOUSE!”
I hit the ground rolling, his words almost seeming to push me further away.
“And STAY OUT!” he snapped, before slamming the door with a BOOM.
For a moment, I trembled on the ground, trying to collect myself. Part of me wanted to cry; another part wanted to storm in and beat his face in with one of his precious Lord’s crosses. Even though I knew that would accomplish nothing; he’d easily beat my ass and then I’d be in even more trouble.
My fists clenched. Why did I have to have him as my father?
“Holy shit,” a voice muttered. “Ash? Are you okay?”
I looked up. Samantha was standing there. Her eyes were wide with concern. Yet her brow was arched; like she was holding something back.
I sighed. “Here to yell at me for causing a fight in church too?” I asked, shifting to a sitting position. “Cuz dear old Dad already took care of that.” The sarcasm and anger practically oozed out of my voice. I rubbed my head where he had grabbed it. But when I shifted again, Sam hadn’t started trying to lecture me. She was holding out her hand.
“Need a place to sleep tonight?” she asked, a small grin poking at the side of her lips.
I gazed up at her. Anger still throbbed in my heart, but I couldn’t help but smile back at her. I took her hand.
“I’d like that,” I admitted.
She started to respond. But instead of her voice, I heard Twilight.
“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
My eyes shot open! I was on my feet in an instant, my boomstick practically springing into my hand. Smashing through the door, I sighted down on Twilight. She was thrashing and shifting but… there was no deadite. Her eyes were shut tight.
It came together. I sheathed my boomstick, crossed over to the bed and grabbed her shoulder.
“Twilight!” I barked. “Twilight, wake up!”
She bolted up, her pale fur soaked with sweat. Even before her eyes were fully open, she clung to me like her life depended on it.
“It’s okay,” I said softly. “You’re safe. You’re safe. Breathe, Twilight; no one is going to hurt you.”
I just kept up the stream of calming words as her breathing slowly eased up. Her grip tightened on my shirt.
“I-I’m fine,” she whispered. “I-It was just a nightmare. My friends…” her breathing quickened. “Oh, Celestia, my friends…”
I hushed her, stroking the back of her head. “It was just a nightmare. Don’t talk until you’re ready.”
Her breathing slowed. She nuzzled into my chest.
“Better?” I asked with a grin.
“Much,” she admitted, looking up at me gratefully. “Thank you, Ashley.”
There it was again. That odd… lack of concern over her using my full name. I became a little too aware of how close we were. How she wasn’t wearing anything but a bra and my cross. My heart beat a little faster.
“Okay, now,” I said. “Try to get some rest.” I tried to get up, but Twilight gripped my shirt tighter. Her skin paled again.
“Wait,” she pleaded. “Please don’t go.”
“I’ll be right outside the door,” I insisted. I tried to pull myself away, but I felt magic in her hands, fighting against the magic repel ring Shining had given me.
“Please,” she almost begged. “Just until I fall asleep.”
I wanted to protest. I wasn’t sure. But she gazed at me with sad, pitiable eyes like a puppy dog. My resolve broke.
“Alright,” I said, settling back in as her magic ceased, and her grip relaxed. “Just until you fall asleep.”
Careful not to hurt her, I unhooked my chainsaw and set it on her vanity. Laying back on the bed, I let Twilight put her arms around me and rest her head on my shoulder. My heart still pumped at our vicinity. And how little clothing she had. But, despite my nervousness, nothing happened. And bit by bit, I ended up falling asleep right alongside her.